Making Uzumaki
by PsyckoSama
Summary: Naruto's always had big dreams, but unbeknownst to him he's heir to a legacy that dwarfs all of them. Sometimes all it takes is the beat of a butterfly's wings to put you on the path to greatness. With some luck, some help, and a whole lot of hard work, Naruto is going to make the name Uzumaki something to be respected once more. Naru/Haku, probably multi later on.
1. Chapter 1

Even as his killing intent faded, Uzumaki Naruto shuddered with rage and sorrow, his fist trembling just inches from his foe's face.

"It's you, from the woods..." he whispered as he looked into the eyes of the feminine boy standing before him. He couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it. The kind stranger from the forest that had listened to his dream, who'd smiled and wished him good fortune, and the bastard ice demon who'd killed his teammate were one and the same. He couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it, yet here it was, still true none the less.

He wanted to scream. To sputter and rage at the uncaring world, but all he could do was stand there and shake as he fought his conflicting feelings. He was enraged by Sasuke's death. He'd never liked the bastard. He'd always been so arrogant, so cocky, and so smugly self-superior it made Naruto want to smack him silly. And when Sakura threw herself at him Naruto just wanted to scream at the sheer the indignity of it all, but he couldn't let Sasuke go unavenged. The bastard had been part of his team and as depressing as it sounds, one of the few people he might have been able to call friend.

At the same time though, while he knew that Haku was the enemy, Naruto honestly didn't want to kill him. Haku had shown him kindness, and while it had only been brief and a bit embarrassing considering his confusion over the extremely girly looking boy's gender. He'd still been one of the few people that Naruto had met that listened to his dream and expressed kindness and friendship, rather than scorn or contempt.

"Why did you stop?" Haku asked looking at Naruto, struggling to stand as the other boy shook with outrage and sadness. "I killed your precious friend, yet you can't kill me?"

Naruto glanced over to Sasuke's body, where it lay riddled with needles, and was filled with a new burst of killing intent as he quivered with rage. Sasuke might have been a vengeance obsessed egomaniac with bad hair, but he was his friend. Part of his team, and those who don't look out for their comrades are lower than trash!

"Damn it!" Naruto roared as he completed his blow, sending the older ninja flying to the ground in a spray of blood.

"What happened to your intensity?" Haku asked as he pulled himself to his feet, dazed by the blow but still able to stand, "You can't finish me off acting like this."

Naruto winced. As badly as he wanted to avenge Sasuke, that's exactly where he didn't want to go. While he was willing to kill, he had no desire to do so, especially not against a helpless foe. He couldn't help but remember the words the other boy had hold him in the forest. 'Do you have an important person? I want to protect my important person, to help his dreams come true. That is my dream.'

He didn't want to do this.

Seeing his hesitation, Haku slowly wiped the blood off of his chin. "There are people who make this mistake, of not killing their enemies because of pity. Just letting them leave with their lives. Can't you understand?" Haku asked looking Naruto in the eyes, "Not having a dream? Not being needed by anyone? The pain of living without a purpose?"

Why give up your life so easily? What was Haku going on about. "No purpose? What are you talking about?"

"Zabuza-sama has no need for a weak ninja. You have taken my reason for existing," he replied honestly.

Naruto winced as his mind once again turned back to their conversation in the woods. When a person has something precious to protect, that is when they can truly become strong.

Naruto quaked with rage and screamed at the indignity of it. "Why?" He asked, "Why for a guy like that? He's a bad guy who takes money from criminals! Is that eyebrow-less freak the only person important to you?!"

Haku took a deep breath and looked Naruto in the eyes. "I had people very dear to me long ago. My..." He paused. "My parents. I was born in a small, snowy village in Mizu no Kuni. I was happy. My parents were very kind people." He sighed sadly. "But when I grew up and began to learn the ways of the world something terrible happened." Haku trailed off leaving the statement floating.

"Something terrible?" Naruto asked, softly, "What happened?"

Haku looked down in sadness. To see that kind of look on such a pretty face was a depressing thing. Even if it was a guy's.

Haku looked back up to him. "My father killed my mother and then he tried to kill me."

"W-what?" Naruto exclaimed. "Why would he do such a thing?!"

"My blood," Haku all but whispered in response.

"Your blood?" Naruto asked in utter confusion.

"My cursed blood," Haku whispered, shame faced.

"Cursed blood?" Naruto repeated, still confused about where Haku was going.

Haku looked him in the eyes. "Mizu had been going through an endless civil war, and those with advanced bloodlines came to be hated."

"Advanced bloodlines?" Naruto asked again. Seriously, the fuck was he talking about?

"Kekkei Genkai. People born with special abilities like mine," he clarified, with a small sigh, making Naruto flush slightly. It wasn't his fault he didn't learn this stuff in school.

Okay, it probably was, but he didn't like to admit that.

"Because of these abilities," Haku continued, "Clans with Kekkei Genkai such as mine were used as weapons in countless battles. As a result, these clans were held responsible for bringing war and misfortune to the country."

Naruto froze as he remembered Sasuke's words. To resurrect my clan and kill a certain man. Oh yeah, he remembered something about Sasuke having a limit too, though honestly he'd never paid much attention when people brought the bastard up.

"My mother carried one of those bloodlines," Haku continued. "My father found out and he killed her, and when he came for me, I was frightened... and I reacted." He paused. " I destroyed him with my power. "

Naruto grimaced. Okay, now this was just all kinds of fucked up.

"It was then that I thought about myself and had no choice but to realize the most painful thing possible."

"Most painful thing possible?" Naruto wondered. What could be worse than having to kill your father after he killed your mom?

"That in the whole of the world, not one single person cared about me. I was a completely unwanted person."

Naruto grimaced and had to look away. While the rest of it he had difficulty understanding, that was something he knew all too well, and even being reminded of it made his stomach twist. They were the same.

"You said you wanted to become the best ninja in your village and have everyone acknowledge your worth. Now, if someone who acknowledged you from the bottom of their heart appeared, wouldn't that someone become the most important person in the world to you?"

Naruto lowered his head as his thoughts turned to Iruka-sensei. On that night, when he'd learned the truth, it had been his teacher who'd pulled him from that abyss of sorrow and acknowledged his existence. Haku was right. He loved Iruka-sensei more than anyone in the world.

"Zabuza-san took me in knowing I had a bloodline limit. This blood that everyone else hated, he desired it." Haku smiled as a tear ran down his cheek. "I was wanted. I was so happy."

Haku took a deep breath looking lost in thought before looking back to Naruto. "Naruto-kun, please kill me."

There weren't words to express how much Naruto didn't want to do that. While he wanted to avenge Sasuke, he didn't want to kill Haku. He couldn't let Sasuke's death go unavenged, but he didn't want to kill anyone, especially someone who could understand all he'd gone through.

"Why are you hesitating?" Haku asked him. "Please, hurry up and kill me."

Naruto growled as his own frustrations over this damnable decision came to the surface. "I don't understand!" he roared. "Is being strong the only reason you have to live?" He took a deep breath. "Something other than fighting. You could have been acknowledged for something else."

"That day I met you in the forest, I knew you were like me. You should be able to understand." Haku sighed. "I'm sorry that you will have to stain your hands."

Naruto sighed. He couldn't understand why Haku was so hell-bent on death. "Is this-" he sighed, "Is this the only way?

Haku nodded." Yes."

Naruto took a deep breath and steeled his nerves. He didn't want to do this but he could understand. If he'd lost his opportunity to become a ninja, to become Hokage, he'd probably be saying the same thing. He didn't want to live without his dream, but while he thought it was a waste, he wasn't going to force Haku to live without his. If the boy would rather die than be a failure to Zabuza, well, so be it.

Haku smiled as Naruto dew one of his kunai. "Please fulfill your own dreams."

Naruto frowned and looked back to Sasuke. "He... He also had a dream." Naruto took a deep breath. "If we'd met under different circumstances, we might've become friends."

For a moment Naruto considered charging the other boy, but he decided against it. It was bad enough that he was going to kill. He didn't want to feel the sickening feeling of his blade cutting through flesh. This was already going to haunt his dreams. He didn't want to make it any worse.

"Thank you," Haku said as Naruto drew his hand back to throw the blade.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto released the blade. While he normally wasn't the best shot in the academy, you'd have to be a real screw up to miss a stationary target at this range. As the blade approached Haku's eyes opened wide and he deflected the kunai saying "I'm sorry Naruto-kun, but I can't die yet!"

Naruto was filled with a flash of anger as the other boy began to form seals to pull off some kind of jutsu. It didn't work like that! You can't just say kill me then go time out! Where was Sasuke's fucking time out!? A blur of red and rage, Naruto closed the distance between the two in the blink of an eye. Literally roaring with rage, Naruto punched Haku in the stomach with a vicious uppercut. The force of the blow sent Haku flying into the air like a rag doll.

Naruto growled and pulled back as the other boy hit the ground. Pitifully, Haku rolled over and began to vomit up blood and bile. With his killing intent clearly visible on his face, Naruto walked over and kicked Haku in the side hard enough to send him sprawling. "There are no time outs!" Naruto roared. "You're either dead or you're not! You can't just demand that I kill you and then say hold on a second!"

"No-" Haku whispered. "It can't be-"

Naruto sneered. "What, now you want to live?"

"No," Haku whimpered as he unsteadily rose to his feet. The look on his face was desperate and frantic."Please no-"

Naruto backed off. Okay, what the hell? First Haku was going on and on about how life without your dream was meaningless and now he wanted to live so badly? Fine. He'd let Kakashi-sensei handle this. He didn't want to fucking do it anyways.

Naruto blinked in confusion as Haku stumbled to his feet, and pushed past him, holding his stomach as he lumbered like a drunk into the vanishing mists. Taking a deep breath to center himself, he followed him wondering what the hell was going on. It was then that he saw it. Sasuke's death had been tragic but it had been clean and probably painless. This on the other hand was, well, neither.

Across the bridge Kakashi-sensei was standing across from Zabuza, his arm buried up to his elbow in the nukenin's chest. Naruto fought back bile at the revolting sight while Haku released a deafening, girlish scream.

Glancing over, Kakashi simply withdrew his arm from his foes body with a wet pop. Once again, Naruto fought the urge to vomit as he heard the sickening suction sound and saw all that blood come rushing out of the large hole in his torso. Yeah. Zabuza sure as hell wasn't getting back up this time.

"Zabuza-san!" Haku cried out as he stumbled towards the body. For the first time Naruto heard true anguish in his voice. "I failed you! I was weak! It should have been me! It should have been me!"

The dying nukenin smiled under his mask and weakly brought his hand up to touch Haku's cheek as the boy collapsed to his knees next to him. "No, Haku. You were a powerful instrument, but sometimes that's just not enough."

"But I failed-"

"Heh. Don't blame yourself, Haku. We're ninja. Eventually we all have our bad day, and I guess that today, it was mine." He choked. "Haku, I have one last command..."

"Anything!" he exclaimed as he grabbed the other ninja's hand.

"Don't throw your life away trying to avenge me." He coughed again, his mask slowly turning red from his own blood. "Find your own dream, or find someone worthy and serve them as you served me."

"I will," Haku whispered.

He smiled under his mask. "Good. Never had any kids, so I guess that makes you my legacy..." Zabuza started to shake, racked with coughing as blood sputtered from his mouth.

Just moments from death, he reaches up and grabbed Haku's arm tightly, a savage smile showing blood stained teeth, "Never said this, but... should have... You were like a..." coughed savagely, his words lost as his body struggled to hold onto that last moment of life, "... to me. I love ya kid... Goodbye... Haku..."

He said nothing else. His hand relaxed and slowly slipped and fell from Haku's arm as the life faded from his eyes.

Haku screamed in torment before hugging the body closely, tears streaming down his face.

Naruto watched sadly until Kakashi placed his hand, the one that wasn't covered in gore, thank the Kami, on his shoulder. "Give him some space. It's not easy losing someone close."

Naruto looked up to his teacher sadly. "Sasuke, he-" Naruto looked down. "He's dead."

"What?" Kakashi whispered. The jonin's hand tightened and he glared at the crying boy for a moment radiating pure killer intent before he sighed and looked at Naruto with sadness in his one visible eye. "Then I guess this was a bad day for everyone."

"Speak for yourself, ninja."

All eyes turned to see Gato standing at the end of the bridge clapping his hands in glee. Behind him stood a small army of thugs, their weapons at the ready and obviously looking to do some damage. "I must say things went off far better than I could have possibly imagined. Zabuza has worn you all down wonderfully and had the decency to die by your hands and save me the trouble. I must say this day couldn't be any better!"

"What?" Haku exclaimed as he pulled himself to his feet, his physical injuries monumentally overcome by the same sort of shock and rage that Naruto himself had been feeling only moments before.

"I never intended to pay you, stupid boy." Gato laughed. "He was nothing more than a tool. He was useful for a time, but when that time is up you simply dispose of the tool and get a new one. That is why you nukenin are so much more useful than village ninja. No one minds when you throw them out."

Haku seethed in rage. "Zabuza-san was not a tool! He had a dream! He-"

Gato scoffed contemptuously, cutting him off. "I don't care about the worthless dreams of a worthless man, I-"

With a growl of fury, Haku flicked his wrist and silenced Gato, permanently. The short crime lord fell backwards with his mouth open in mid sentence, a senbon piercing the weak flesh of his throat and embedding itself in the fat man's brain stem, killing him instantly.

"You will not make light of Zabuza-san's memory!" he roared, shaking with anger.

"Hey!" exclaimed one of the thugs. "You killed our meal ticket!"

"Yeah," added another, "You guys are dead!"

"We're gonna pillage this town and take everything of value!"

"Just remember, lads, rape, pillage, then burn! Make sure not to mix it up!"

Haku looked at the opposing force with steel in his eyes and drew his senbon. The temperature began to drop and snow began to fall from the sky. A severe wind blew across the bridge, chilling everyone to the bone. Haku fell into a fighting stance and glared at the enemy, but just a moment later the temperature returned to normal, the snow stopped, and Haku fell backwards, only just being caught by Naruto as his needles jingled across the ground.

"This is... awkward," he admitted. "Naruto-kun, I am sorry, but it appears that I no longer have the strength to continue," He smiled at Naruto. "There is no need for you to grieve. Your friend is alive. The technique I used only gives the appearance of death." He began to fade but then shook his head and looked Naruto dead in the eyes. "You have the strength I didn't have, Naruto-kun. Fight, and protect your precious people and make them acknowledge you." Haku said as he allowed himself to slip into unconsciousness in Naruto's arms.

Glancing over his shoulder he saw Sakura holding Sasuke. The bastard was out of the fight but according to Haku he wasn't really dead. Naruto smiled and slowly he lowered the other boy to the ground. Sasuke was alive, he hadn't had to kill Haku, and Haku was right. All that stood between him and his acknowledgment was this army of second rate killers and low-rent cut-throats. Naruto smirked as he felt his second wind come on. He almost pitied the poor bastards.

Almost.

"Alright you chumps, listen up!" he roared, jumping to the mouth of the bridge, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm gonna kick your asses!"

Smiling like a maniac he formed the trademark crossed seal of his favorite technique.

"TAIJUU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"

1

Kakashi took a deep breath as he entered Tazuna's house. Thank the kami he hadn't missed dinner. While he enjoyed the benefits of rank, he really, really hated getting stuck with all the damned paperwork. Just to make matters worse, he had to spend several hours putting up with the local constabulary while they dealt with what was left of Gato's mooks. After that was all done and over with, he'd picked up his little care package and called it a night.

Despite all the after action bullshit, today had been very interesting to say the least. He'd killed a damned near legendary nukenin, it seemed as if a member of a powerful lost bloodline was probably returning with them to Konoha, and Naruto defeated an entire army of bandits with only a minimal amount of assistance.

Around the table all three of his genin were sitting with Tazuna's family. He'd have to ask where that ice kid, Haku, had run off to. From the look of things, Naruto was very close to abusing their hospitality, what, considering the massive pile of rice bowls sitting beside him. That said, Kakashi couldn't care less. The fact remained that Tazuna had knowingly listed a Class A bodyguard mission as a Class C escort mission. Taking that into account, well, the kid could abuse their hospitality all he damned well pleased. Besides, after saving the daughter and grandkid from a kidnapping attempt, defeating an enemy nin with a powerful bloodline, then following it up by running off a horde of bandits with a veritable clone army, he could probably use the meal.

Kakashi chuckled. Ha! That idiot old drunk was lucky that he didn't work his charms on his pretty little daughter and find a little bit of Icha-Icha Paradise of his own!

Looking back to the table, he couldn't help but shake his head. Naruto. He hadn't been too impressed by the boy at first, but damn, he really was his parents' son. He knew that the kid knew the Kage Bunshin, but he hadn't expected him to be able to summon several hundred of the damned things. He'd barely had to lift a finger, the kid just swarmed forward and stomped the crap out of the bandits through shear weight of numbers. When the townspeople had shown up ready to defend their homes from the hired marauders they hadn't needed to do much more than mop up. He sighed and looked at the bag in his hand. That was why he'd gone out.

He was also proud of Sasuke. While he hadn't performed as well as Naruto in the battle, he had shown that he was willing to give everything he had, even his life, to protect his teammates. He'd also managed to unlock his Sharingan, which in itself was no small accomplishment. Having the ability himself, Kakashi knew that the boy's skill would increase exponentially from here on out.

Sakura had mastered tree climbing first, without a doubt had the best chakra control, and had defended the old man as ordered, but when compared to the accomplishments of his other students, her performance was depressingly underwhelming. Next time he'd have to make sure to get her a chance to show her stuff.

He also had to admit that while he was still angry at the boy, Haku was highly capable. He'd managed to dominate both the last Uchiha and the Yondaime's Legacy, with it only being Naruto's use of the Kyuubi no Kitsune's chakra that allowed him to wear the older boy down and defeat him through sheer brute force. Kid was also a decent med-nin. Once he'd regained consciousness, he'd immediately volunteered to take care of everyone's wounds. He hadn't used any jutsu, but considering his state of borderline chakra exhaustion, that wasn't very surprising.

"Naruto-kun," Kakashi said, "We need to talk for a moment."

The boy nodded and stood up, a wide smile on his face. "Yeah, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Where's Haku?" Kakashi asked. He hoped the boy hadn't run off. If they could convince the boy to come to Konoha, he'd bring both the Hidden Mist techniques he'd learned from Zabuza and his powerful bloodline limit with him.

"Oh, he's taking a bath," Naruto replied.

Kakashi nodded. That was understandable. From the look of things, Naruto had really put the kid through the ringer. A hot bath always helped sooth bruising. Looking back to the boy, he said, "Naruto, walk with me."

"Yes, sensei."

Kakashi walked the two of them out of earshot of the others and turned to him. "I just got back from the constabulary."

Naruto blinked in confusion. "Um, okay."

Kakashi placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. Here comes the hard part, the part that more than any separates the ninja from the nobodies. "Naruto, I believe that you should know, twelve of the men you fought today didn't survive the battle." Kakashi decided not to mention the other thirty not expected to survive the night. Kid had enough to think about, besides, they were going to hang the lot of them in the morning so it wasn't like it actually mattered.

The boy sucked in a deep breath and lowered his head, his normally cheerful demeanor vanishing in an instant. Your first kill is always the hardest, and to make matters worse, it was the rare ninja who's first kill was actually his first dozen. "So, you didn't realize?" he asked.

Naruto shook his head. "I was trying not to kill anyone but-"

"But when you're dealing with a large, dense group of enemies you don't have time to watch your blows and it's easy to get lost in the fog of battle."

Naruto simply nodded.

"How do you feel, Naruto?"

The boy paused and looked back up to him. His eyes were sad, but they were determined. "I'm... I'm sorry that they're dead, but they wanted to kill my friends and destroy the city." He paused. "That's why I became a ninja, to protect people."

Kakashi smiled under his mask and gave the boy's shoulder a squeeze. "You pass, Naruto-kun."

Naruto blinked. "What?"

"The blooding. The last test," he replied, "I'm sure you've heard a thousand times in the Academy that we ninja deal in death, but most people don't understand it until they've actually been forced to take a life. Some can't handle the responsibility, but you can," he tapped him on the forehead protector, "Now you're a real Konoha shinobi."

The boy smiled sadly. "Thank you, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi slowly lifted the bag in his hand and gave it to Naruto. "Now, I'm sorry that this isn't the best quality, but it's the best I could find around here."

Naruto blinked as he pulled the bottle of mid-grade sake from the bag. "Sake?"

Kakashi nodded. "Yeah. I've found that sometimes the only thing you can do is accept that you can't change the past and forget your worries with a good, stiff drink." What he didn't mention was that if the alcohol didn't make you forget, the hangover in the morning would.

Naruto looked down at the bottle and nodded. "I think I'll go take a bath. Maybe Haku could use a drink too."

Kakashi laughed. "That's the spirit, kid. You'd be surprised how many lifelong friendships start drunk and miserable."

Naruto rolled his eyes and walked off holding the bottle.

Kakashi smiled and crossed his arms proudly. Kid was going to do just fine. Minato-senesi, Kushina-neesan, you'd both be very proud.

1 1

Naruto sighed as he threw his clothes into the basket beside Haku's. He was tired and felt a bit depressed. He hadn't meant to kill those guys but it wasn't like he had too much of a choice. They were going to kill his precious people, then do unspeakable things to the innocent people in the town. Wasn't that why he wanted to become Hokage? Not just so people would acknowledge him, but so he could protect everyone and prove himself?

He never expected to become Hokage without having to hurt, having to kill, anyone, but he hadn't expected it to come so soon. He sighed and pulled off the top of the bottle Kakashi-sensei gave him. At least it hadn't been Haku. While he could accept killing an enemy who wanted to hurt his friends or innocent people in battle, just the idea killing someone who wasn't even fighting back made him want to hurl. It felt way too much like murder.

With a sigh, Naruto took a deep drag of the bottle and winced as it burned like fire going down. He had a feeling that most first time drinkers would have probably been unable to deal with the sensation without spitting out the first mouth full, but for someone who was used to drinking his milk extra chunky, it wasn't much of a problem. If you could keep that down, cheap sake was hardly a problem.

Naruto opened the door, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath to savor the steam. Nothing clears the nasal passages like steam, though after that first swig, he had to admit that strong alcohol came in a close second. He opened his eyes in curiosity as he heard a splash, which drew him out of his moment of revelry. Haku was sitting on the far end of the bath, neck deep in water. There was a slight flush on his face which made Naruto wonder if the other boy had been in the water a bit too long.

"Hey!" Naruto said a bit more chipper than he'd intended. He laughed inside. Maybe it was already starting to work. Absently, Naruto grabbed a bucket of cold water and sighed. He always hated his part. Fighting back a curse he dumped it over his head and began to scrub as quickly as possible. He always hated cold water, this was double true since that time when he was ten that the hot water heater keeled over in the middle of winter. Now that had really sucked. It even sucked harder when the pipes froze right after. He'd been forced to bathe and wash his clothes in the river for a week before the ANBU reported it to Sandaime-jiji. Old man had been pretty ticked off.

Still, as a result, he had no love of cold water.

"Naruto-kun," Haku said carefully, "I didn't expect you to take a bath so soon."

Naruto shrugged, fighting back a shiver as he scrubbed himself clean as quickly as possible. "After today I felt like one would be a good idea. Know what I mean? Besides, we're both guys so its not like we'll see anything we haven't seen before."

"Right," Haku said slowly, "We're both guys here."

After a moment Naruto judged himself clean enough and dumped another bucket over his head to rinse off. Yeah. That would do. He stood up and took another swig of sake. You know, this stuff wasn't so bad once you got use to it.

With a deep sigh of contentment, he settled into the water across from Haku. After all the fighting he'd done today the bath was heavenly. Even with his quick recovery time he still felt like an overworked pin-cushion, but a nice hot bath would make everything right with the world.

"Naruto where did you get that bottle?" " Haku asked, warily looking at the aforementioned hooch.

"Found out some bad news," Naruto replied. "I killed some of those guys on the bridge. Kakashi-sensei gave it to me, said it might help." He paused and glanced over at the other boy before holding it out to him. "Here."

Haku frowned. "Zabuza-san told me that getting drunk makes you vulnerable and that ninja cannot afford such weakness." The boy paused and lowered his head, sadly sinking even deeper into the water at the mention of his late precious person.

Naruto smiled to the other boy and held the bottle out again. "Kakashi-sensei said that sometimes the only thing you can do is accept that you can't change the past and sometimes a good, stiff drink will help you forget about your worries for a while."

The other boy paused for a moment before snatching the bottle out of Naruto's hand and drinking with a gusto that made Naruto wonder if he was going to get it back. Absently he also noted how dainty and delicate the other boy's arms were. While they'd look pretty on a girl, on a guy they were just downright creepy.

"Hey! I'll share it, but you can't have the whole thing!" Naruto exclaimed as he snatched the bottle back. Haku simply glared in response.

Naruto wilted under the dirty look and lowered his head. "You probably hate us, don't you?"

"No," Haku replied. "You did your duty as ninja. There could never have been any other way. While your sensei struck the killing blow, and you prevented me from giving my life in place of his, it was Gato's dishonorable intentions that caused his death, and he's already paid for his disrespect."

Naruto nodded and took another swig. "Yeah. I guess so. So what are you going to do now?"

Haku paused for a moment then snatched the bottle back, a sad look on his face. "I have no idea." He took another long swig. "Once again I am an unwanted person."

"Hey!" Naruto exclaimed snatching the bottle back. "You aren't an unwanted person."

Haku growled and leaned forward locking eyes with Naruto. "My precious person is dead! He's the only person who gave a damn about me in the world and now he's gone! No one else cares if I live or die!"

Naruto took another dose of liquid courage and glared at the other boy. "That's not true! I care! I don't care if you were my enemy and I'm glad you're not dead, because now we can become friends!"

Haku blinked. "Friends?"

"Yeah," Naruto exclaimed. "Friends! I have lots of friends. Sakura-chan, Konohamaru-kun, Iruka-sensei, Hokage-jiji, the Ichirakus, hell, even Sasuke, though don't tell him I said that, because he's a dick!"

Haku smiled thinly and took the bottle back taking a thin sip. "Then you are most fortunate, Naruto-kun, to have so many people who acknowledge you."

Naruto snatched the bottle back, and looked Haku in the eyes. "Yeah, I know, and if you gave 'em half a chance I bet they'd become your friends you too."

Haku's features softened. "Are you serious?"

Naruto nodded with a grin on his face. "Serious as a bowl of ramen."

Haku blinked. "How is a bowl of ramen serious?"

"You seriously better not get in between me and it because you might get hurt!"

Haku laughed and took the bottle back. "So you really want to be my friend? Really? Honestly?"

"Yeah, I say what I mean and I mean what I say!"

Haku took a sip and nodded. "Thank you, Naruto." He paused. "You said your dream was to become Hokage, right? To protect everyone in your village and make them acknowledge your strength?"

Naruto nodded. "Yep! Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage and protector of the Village that's suppose to be Hidden in the Leaves, but is really just sitting in the middle of a big damn forest with lots of roads running in all directions!"

Haku smiled. "You are a very special person, Naruto-kun. Zabuza told me to find a worthy person and help them find their dream. I'd like to help you find yours. Well not find, cause you already found it, but to achieve it!"

Naruto beamed. "Thanks Haku! Let's go train." He tried to stand but his footing was questionable and his balance was unsure, causing him to fall back into the bathtub.

Haku giggled in a girlish manner and offered the bottle back to him. "I think you're drunk."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah." He took another swig. "I drink so too."

Haku laughed. "Don't you mean 'I think so'?"

Naruto shrugged. "That's what I said."

"No you didn't!"

"Yes I did!"

Haku laughed again. "You've a very strange boy, you know that Naruto-kun?"

"Hey, who are you calling strange?" Naruto mock glared. "You're one to talk, girly boy."

"I'm not a girly boy!" Haku frowned, still neck deep in water as he tried to reach out for the bottle.

"Gimme that!"

"Kakashi-sensei gave it to me," Naruto snorted. "And you are too a girly boy!"

"I am not a girly boy!" Haku exclaimed again.

"You are too. You're girly so you're a girly boy!"

"I'm girly because I'm a girl!" Haku growled. "Now gimme that bottle!"

"Don't expect me to fall for that one again, Haku!"

"But I really am a girl!"

"Are not!" Naurto exclaimed.

"Am too!" Haku countered.

"Are not!"

"Am too!"

Naruto grinned. "Am too!"

"Are not!" Haku paused in surprise as Naruto laughed.

"See, even you agree with me."

"I am! I really am a girl!" Haku protested.

Naturo laughed. "Yeah, yeah! Prove it and I'll even give you the bottle back!"

"You asked for it!" Haku sneered before standing up.

Naruto's eyes almost burst from his head as he took in Haku's definitely, one hundred percent female, water glistening, naked form. As the creator of the Oiroke no Jutsu Naruto liked to see himself as a bit of an expert in female anatomy, and the anatomy before him was very, very female. Suddenly he realized that he'd spent the past, who knows how long, sitting in a bath with a hot older girl getting sloshed and after much careful internal debate, he eloquently managed to put his thoughts into words.

"How the hell did you hide those?!" Naruto exclaimed as he stared at a pair of rosy capped breasts that were well more than a handful and seemed to redefine the word 'perky'.

"Loose, heavy shirts and a minor genjutsu seal woven into my breast bindings."

"Sealing is truly a powerful art," he breathed in awe.

Haku glowered. "So I've noticed, now gimme that bottle!"

Haku lunged for the bottle, but like Naruto, her normally exceptional sense of balance had been disrupted by the sake and she ended up slipping forward and fell on top of the younger male.

Naruto gagged as he dropped the sake bottle to the side, letting what little liquid remained within run out onto the tiles, but all was forgotten as he felt the warm and inviting feeling of Haku's body pressed against his. With his inhibitions in a state of glorious absence, he did the only thing natural. He kissed her. Also being inebriated state, Haku showed her appreciation for the idea by returning it with a desperate fervor, both of them swept away in sensations they'd never felt before.

1 1 1

Sasuke groaned as he threw his shirt into the clothes basket. He felt like hell. He didn't think there was a single part of his body that hadn't been filled with needles and his nerves were still throbbing thanks to the death faking paralysis technique. If being dead felt anything like what Haku had done to him, he was half tempted to forget about his brother and go looking for immortality because that had really sucked. Though maybe he could do both. After all, Itachi would be screwed in a fight against someone who couldn't die.

He chucked to himself in amusement. That would be cool, but it was also highly unrealistic. He had to keep his head straight about this one. He already knew what he had to do. He had to unlock the full power of his Sharingan. Only then would he be strong enough to defeat That Man and avenge his clan.

Of course you couldn't avenge anyone if you were dead, so he had to wonder why he'd taken that hit for the dobe. It just made no sense. He'd just seen it coming and reacted on instinct. Did this mean that Naruto was his 'best friend'? Did that mean he had to kill Naruto in order to become strong enough to kill his brother? He shook his head. That wouldn't be easy. While Naruto wasn't quite as pathetic as he looked, for some reason Sasuke had doubts to his own ability to kill the other boy. Was it because of the hidden power within him, or was it something else, like his own deep rooted unwillingness to kill the idiot?

Moving his mind to another subject he was glad that Haku kid was still alive. While he was still pissed about almost being killed, he was smart enough not to take it too personally. Besides, while he wasn't able to duplicate the other boy's bloodline based abilities, much of his combat prowess seemed to be due to his unique form of taijutsu. He hoped he'd stay around for a while because he had no doubt that once he'd watched the other boy for long enough, he'd be able to copy it. Now, while he doubted it would make him powerful enough to defeat Itachi, he knew that it could at least give him a few tricks that That Man wouldn't be expecting.

Yeah. He'd definitely have to talk to the other boy about sparing so he could learn some of his techniques.

With a smile, Sasuke opened the door. That expression was instantly replaced by wide eyed, open mouthed shock.

Naruto and Haku were in the bath, and they were making out. There were two guys making out in the bath! That girly boy he could expect, after all, for a man to be that girly he had to be a little limp-wristed by nature, but Naruto? That didn't make any sense.

He gasped. Or did it?

Suddenly it all made sense, the kind of sense that made Sasuke's blood freeze in his veins. Naruto was gay. Naruto liked him. That accidental kiss, it wasn't so accidental. The reason he stalked Sakura. It wasn't because he liked the pink haired girl, it was because she liked Sasuke and he tolerated her, Sakura was Naruto's Beard, and he was using her to get close to him. Their entire rivalry, it was because the dead last loser just wanted to be close to him. Hell, he bet the twisted little freak got off every time he hit him in a sparring match! A chill went up his spine as he remembered that they'd bathed together several times over the duration of this mission. He felt dirty, he felt defiled, he felt a deep concern for his anal virginity.

Almost hyperventilating, Sasuke stumbled back and gripped the door to steady himself. He almost cursed as the door rattled, doubtlessly bringing the attention of both the queers in the bathtub upon him.

Sasuke gulped as he filled with fear. He'd been hoping to simply slip away, but now that they were busted, what would they do? Would they hold him down and do unspeakable, unspeakably gay things to him in order to force his silence with shame or would they just accept that the cat is out of the bag and come clean?

Honestly, he didn't intend to be around to find out.

Sasuke turned around and slid the door shut as fast as it would go and grabbed a yukata off a hook. Taking only enough time to cover himself he ran for help like his ass depended on it, because it just might.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

- 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 -

Kakashi sighed as he placed his chopsticks back onto the table and turned to his uncharacteristically frantic, and apparently naked, genin. On one hand he was annoyed, after all, he'd just managed to sit down to enjoy a very well deserved meal. On the other he was wondering what in the world could make the otherwise implacable Uchiha Sasuke freak out this badly. He was also amused, his other genin was blushing brightly, virtually paralyzed with shock, while a small trickle of blood made its way down her left nostril. Oh yeah. He had no idea what was going on, but they were never going to live this down. He'd make sure of it.

"What is it, Sasuke, and why are you running around without pants?" Kakashi asked bluntly.

"Haku and Naruto are in the bath together!" he exclaimed, jumping around in place.

Behind Kakashi, Sakura fell over backwards, in a near catatonic state, a silly grin pasted across her features, and the blood from her nose now flowing freely. All of Sasuke's jumping around must have given her a look at his junk. He looked over and shook his head. Girl had it bad.

Well, that or she was into yaoi. Personally, Kakashi prayed that it was the former.

Looking back to Sasuke he suddenly wondered what was wrong with the kid. Communal bathing was in no way something to freak out about. It was a proud part of their culture, after all. Was he really that sheltered? Hell, hadn't he shared a bath with Naruto already? Okay, what was he leaving out?

"And how exactly is this an excuse for you running around hanging free and making a fool of yourself?" Kakashi asked, bluntly.

"They were making out!" Sasuke exclaimed.

Kakashi jumped to his feet. Okay. What the fuck? While he didn't disbelieve Sasuke, he knew something had to be up. He'd given Naruto that booze, and the kid said he'd be sharing it with Haku, so maybe they were both drunk, maybe experimenting. A lot of guys did that, though most never spoke of it. Hell, maybe Haku actually was a girl who tried to pass as a guy. A lot of girls did it, and he didn't think a guy could be that pretty. Hell, maybe the Uchiha had just seen something that just looked kinda questionable, made the wrong assumption, and let his mind fill in all the blanks, coming to a worse case scenario. Not that there was anything wrong with being gay, but with the way Naruto all but stalked Sakura, and that wondrous Oiroke no Jutsus of his, it didn't seem very likely. Besides, the son of Namikaze Minato, the man who gave him his first stash of porn mags, gay? On that day he'd eat his own mask! Mind you, he strongly suspected that his first stash was in fact Minato-sensei's private collection. And was actually given to him in order to protect sensei's own ass from the wrath of his then girlfriend, Konoha's very own Red-Hot Habanero (or Blood Stained Hurricane if you were from Mist), Kushina Uzumaki. Why Minato sensei just didn't hide it all in a sealing scroll he doubted he would ever know.

"Come on," Kakashi said in annoyance. "Let's see what's going on."

"It's obvious what's going on, Sensei," Sasuke replied, "Naruto's gay and he's using his membership in this team to try and get a piece of my ass. Well, I'm not going to stand for it! I like girls, damn it!"

Kakashi simply glanced at the boy and smirked. Do I mess with his head, or don't I? Kakashi smiled under his mask. Do. "With the way you ignore Sakura, I have my doubts, kiddo."

Sasuke flushed brightly and glared at his sensei. "I have a man to kill, I cannot afford any distractions!"

"Your clan isn't going to rebuild itself, you know," Kakashi replied, honestly enjoying yanking on the kid's chain.

Sasuke frowned. "I can do that after I've avenged my clan!"

Kakashi shrugged. "And here I thought you'd want to rebuild your clan first, if only to make sure that if something happened to you, your lineage isn't lost."

Sasuke turned about glaring him in the eye. "You.. you-" He paused. "You have a point."

"And that's why I'm the jonin instructor and you're the cute little genin."

Sasuke blushed and lowered his head. Well, for once he got the little genius to back down. Big shocker, that.

With a smile under his mask Kakashi slid open the door to the furo and walked in. Walking past the baskets of clothing, his highly trained senses spotted a flash of color among Haku's clothing. Ah ha! He knew it! Suddenly things fell into place and he couldn't help but smile. Oh, this was going to be so much fun! With a flourish, he opened the inner door and stepped inside.

Naruto was well on his way to third base with Haku, who if those luscious breasts that Naruto was groping were any indication, was most definitely of the female persuasion. He had to admit that the girl was pretty hot, and he was half tempted to let the boy have his fun, but it was his duty as Naruto's instructor to humiliate him at every opportunity. Besides, he wanted to take a bath too, and he wasn't going to clean the damned thing out after two people got done fucking it in.

"Sasuke, that's a girl," he said loudly, in his best kindergarten teacher voice, attracting the attention of the two drunken kids in the tub. Naruto just sat dumbfounded in place while Haku eeked and ducked under the water to preserve what little feminine modesty she had already thrown to the wind.

"See?" Kakashi continued, in his lecture voice. "Those are boobies. Only girls have boobies. Boobies, can you say boobies? I know that you can!" He looked at Sasuke expectantly.

Sasuke glared.

Kakashi smiled and cleared his throat. "Ha-hem."

Sasuke flushed and averting his eyes, growled out, "Boobies."

"Good boy!" Kakashi exclaimed as if her were praising a small child. "Now, apologize for telling everyone Naruto was making out with a guy."

Sasuke stood in place with a furious blush on his face and then after a long moment, muttered out a very sad "Sorry".

Kakashi frowned. "That'll do. Now what lesson have you learned today my student?"

Sasuke sighed. "Never base a conclusion off of assumed truths. Always confirm your information."

Kakashi nodded proudly. "Very good. You may go."

To his great amusement, Sasuke bolted out the door like someone had lit his ass on fire.

Turning back to Naruto, he crossed his arms. "Other people need to use this bath, and I'm not going to clean it after you've had your fun. Out of the tub, both of you!"

Naruto slowly and unsure, climbed out, with a look on his face like someone had just strangled his puppy. Which considering where Haku's hands had been, she just might have been doing. Haku on the other hand stayed crouched and glared at him.

"Once you leave, pervert," she snapped.

She didn't want to flash him. Fair enough.

As Naruto walked to the door, Kakashi patted him on the back with one hand, winked and gave him a thumbs up with the other. "Making out with the hot older girl in the tub, eh? I have to give you at least 100 man points for this one, kid."


	2. Chapter 2

Haku groaned in agony as she opened her eyes. The light was blinding and it felt like her eyes were being burnt out of their sockets. If there was a hell, it must be a hangover, because she could easily see this as a punishment for all of her life's sins, both real and imagined. Slowly, warily, she turned over and attempted to pull her pillow over her head to make it stop. She just wanted to go back to sleep and pretend the day before was just some horrible nightmare. Unfortunately she was already conscious and getting more and more awake as the seconds passed. Pity, that.

She hurt. There was no other way to describe it. There was no part of her body that didn't ache. From her head to her toes she felt like she'd been beaten with clubs. While he'd only struck her a couple of times, Naruto's strength had been truly monstrous, and her landings far from graceful. Her hangover only added to her pain by providing a new form of unpleasantness she'd never before experienced and hoped to never experience again.

Her state of near chakra exhaustion only added to her troubles, leaving her feeling like her body was made of lead. While not unknown to her, this degree of chakra fatigue was something she rarely experienced. Her techniques were too powerful and her reserves too deep. It was rare for her to ever get pushed anywhere near this far. The worst though, was the pain in her heart.

She would never be able to forget what happened on that bridge. Thanks to her weariness, fatigue, and hangover, her recollection of the previous day's events was not what it should be. To her the battle registered as a chaotic mass of memories, memories of melancholy, pain, loss, and rage. In quick succession she'd lost her dream, her father, and her innocence. While she'd killed before, it had never been driven by the desire to end the life of another. She'd never taken any pleasure in the idea of killing, and had always avoided unnecessary bloodshed. She hated seeing people suffer needlessly. She shook her head. Ironic, considering that she was formerly the tool of the Demon of the Mist, who was famed for using carnage as a weapon.

This time though, she'd only had one thing in mind when she acted. She wanted to destroy him. And she did. And she enjoyed it. This disgusted her, but at the same time, she found it difficult to care. Gato deserved it. He was a vile creature whose duplicity and selfishness had lead to Zabuza-san's death. While he hadn't delivered the killing blow, this entire debacle was his responsibility. Satisfaction was to be expected. Killing him had simply been the act of avenging her master.

She paused. No. Not master. Her father. Before he died, Zabuza had said, or at least tried to say that she was like a daughter to him. He'd told her the one thing that she'd wanted to hear from him her entire life. That he loved her. He called her his legacy. In that act, he'd given her the most precious of gifts. He'd made her more than an extension of his will. He'd declared to her that she was his precious person. She was his child, his apprentice, no longer his tool. She was his heir, and through her, his memory would continue to live on.

Even in her pain this brought her comfort. For that brief moment, she saw the love in his eyes and it filled a void she never knew existed. For that moment he valued her for her and not for her blood. In that moment, she'd gone beyond being useful to being cherished. A small smile came to her face and she hugged herself, desperately trying to hold onto that precious moment where they we no longer weapon and master, but father and child.

Haku blinked as she felt a squishy sensation under her robe.

She looked down and saw that her breasts unbound, covered only by a thin yukata that only just managed to preserve her feminine modesty. Her eyes went wide with horror. Oh, no! What had she done?

If there was one thing that Zabuza had grilled into her with almost obsessive intensity, it was that her true gender was to be kept secret for as long as possible. Under no circumstances could the fact that she was actually female could end up in the Bingo Books. The reason was entirely defensive. It was an unspoken fact that many hunter-nin abused the amount of freedom that the nature of their profession allowed them to indulge in otherwise unspeakable acts of cruelty and sadism. Despite the existence of regulations to the contrary, many often felt free to take certain... liberties with the kunoichi they were hunting before disposing of them. Of course, in Kirigakure there wasn't even that. That monstrous bastard Yagura, while not actively encouraging it, actually condoned it claiming that it helped encourage loyalty among the ranks!

The price of defeat for a ninja was death. She knew this, she accepted this, and she knew well that the only reason she was alive now was due to the mercy of these Konoha-nin. It was simply the way of things. But there were things worse than death. She shuttered. It made her blood run colder than the ice she so casually manipulated. To her it was the stuff of nightmares. That was why she hid her gender. If hiding her gender was the price to pay to avoid a slow, agonizing, degrading end, it was one well paid.

There was no way that this was going to be kept out of Konoha's Bingo Books now, and once it was in their Bingo Books, everyone would copy it. Even worse, without Zabuza's reputation to shield her, she had no idea that Kiri would step up their attempts. Her existence as Zabuza's accomplice wasn't widely known due to the fact that up until this point she'd spent her life living in Zabuza's shadow, protected by his reputation and tendency not to leave survivors, she was on her own now and once Konoha listed her, all bets were off.

She felt disgusted at her own foolishness. How could she have been so stupid? She took a deep breath and tried to remember. What could have caused her to lose complete control of her senses so badly. She paused. Okay, that was a rhetorical question. The hangover made it obvious that she'd gotten drunk and done something idiotic. The question was what had she done and how had she gotten to this point to begin with.

She sat up, while ignoring her pain in order to try and think. She remembered passing out due to injury and exhaustion. After that, not so much. Her head hurt too badly, and just sitting up felt like a complicated task. While she never drank to excess before, and Zabuza considered it a weakness, Gouzu and Meizu loved nothing more than getting themselves drunk to the point of stupidity. Then finding a couple of local harlots, and dragging themselves home the next morning in a pitiful state. While she never took any pleasure in the suffering of others, she'd always thought it served them right. But now, for the first time, she actually felt a bit of empathy for the discomfort those two morons had been in.

Taking a deep breath she looked about the room, ignoring the nauseating spinning sensation. upon seeing her clothing folded next to her futon she fumbled in the pile to check and see if she had any senbon. As she'd expected, the ones in her clothing were gone. After all, it is not a very bright ninja who leaves a potential enemy with weapons, even if they were no longer an open threat. Unfortunately for her though, they were rather thorough in the search. Like any kunoichi worth the title, she had her own little hiding places for weapons in case she was captured to aid her in any potential escapes, but they'd all been checked. Kakashi. She sighed. Few genin could be this thorough, it was the mark of a professional.

Gritting her teeth to off the distraction caused by her hangover, she summoned her power and formed a couple of small ice senbon. Without pause, she pressed them into several acupuncture points. Within seconds her screaming migraine reduced itself to a dull but persistent headache. While it wasn't a perfect solution, it did reduce her headache enough for her to be able to think clearly.

Taking a deep breath, she focused. She remembered waking up in the bridge builder's house after the battle. She remembered tending the Konoha-nin's wounds and eating dinner with them, then she decided to take a bath, then-. She blushed. Then Naruto had walked in, and in order to conceal her gender she hid most of her body under the water. He sat across from her and they started to talk. He'd shared his sake with her, which explained how she'd gotten drunk. That's where everything began to fade.

She crossed her legs and concentrated, ignoring her body's protest. After that. She smiled. After that she'd opened up to him. He'd told her that she was not alone, and he'd sworn his friendship to her. He'd declared that she was one of his precious people. He valued her existence and she declared she'd help him accomplish his dream and become leader of his village. She smiled. That was a large oath on her part, one that she might not have made quite so swiftly without the Sake, but she knew she'd still would have made it. They were very much alike. Both of them wished to become strong to protect their precious people and by declaring that she was important to him, he became important to her as well.

A look of contentment came to Haku's face as she felt a bit of the void in her spirit fill. She'd been afraid that she'd be unwanted again, but she'd already found another precious person, and Naruto's offer to introduce her to his precious people? It was almost enough to make her feel giddy.

After taking a moment to bask in the warmth, she returned to trying to remember the night before. Now, what had happened next? She furrowed her brow in concentration and thought. She flushed. Then they'd started to tease each other and she got angry and showed him she was a girl by standing up and flashing him! Then... her eyes went wide as she flushed brightly, and gasped in embarrassment. Oh my! Then she fell on top of him and then started to kiss and do this, that, and the other thing! To make matters worse their sensei and the black hared boy walked in on them! She shook her head almost By this point she was all but glowing red with humiliation. She didn't want to remember anymore! It was too embarrassing!

She took a deep breath and tried to fight down her blush. How was she going to face everyone like this, She was so embarrassed! She didn't know what to say or-.

"Hey, Haku-chan!"

With a small exclamation of surprise, Haku jumped back and spun around to face the new interloper. Biting back a groan she grabbed her head and cursed under her breath. She'd been startled, and the momentary disruption of her concentration had been just enough to allow her senbon to melt, giving her hangover leave to return full force. Her eyes narrowed slightly as they focused on the blond boy in the doorway. She wanted to be mad, but the look of barely constrained joy on his face made that difficult. Seeing her presence cause such happiness in others, it made her feel valued, and that feeling was more than worth any temporary discomfort.

"Do you need something, Naruto-kun?" Haku asked, with a slight a grimace of pain on her face.

"I just wanted to see what you were doing, that's all," Naruto said, smiling radiantly at her.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun," she replied, wincing again as her brain felt like it was pulsing in her head, "But could you keep your voice down?"

The boy blinked in slight surprise and bewilderment, but acquiesced. "Huh? Oh, sure," Naruto said in a quieter but still uncomfortably loud voice.

"Thank you," Haku whispered hoarsely deciding to take what she could get as she summoned a second set of ice senbon from the ambient moisture, and moved to use them to dull her hangover.

Seeing her about to place the ice needles into her flesh, Naruto reacted with surprising speed. "Huh?! Hey, what the hell are you doing that for?!" Naruto shouted, frantically grabbing for the needles before she could stick them into her head.

"Don't touch those!" Haku growled, pushing him away. "I have a hangover and they help dull the pain!"

"Oh! Er, sorry... I didn't know you could do that," Naruto said. He didn't know that much about acupuncture or anything like that, but be he supposed it made sense-If you could make people appear dead with needles in the right places, then why not relieve pain?

She winced in both pain and frustration as she looked down at the puddle of water in her hands. The moment of distraction caused her to lose focus again. With a sigh she summoned yet another set and carefully applied them. She sighed in slight contentment as her headache once again became manageable. "This would be much easier if I didn't have to focus on them," she reflecting, plopping back onto her back with her arms spread to the side, jostling her top.

Naruto blushed and his eyes went wide, but he was unable to look away, gaze firmly locked on Haku's chest and the bountiful treasures that had been partially exposed from her loose top. Part of his mind told him he was a pervert, while his awakening hormones told that part to sit down and shut up and enjoy the sight of her glorious peaks that you could make out if you turned your head and looked just right.

Haku met his stupid smile with a peeked eyebrow and slowly followed his gaze downwards. Her eyes went wide and she blushed brightly as she snapped her yukata shut while simultaneously shooting him a withering glare.

"S-Sorry!" Naruto said, slapping a hand over his eyes. "I'm sorry, really!"

He turned away for good measure.

Haku sighed. It was just hard to get mad at him. For someone who'd always wanted nothing more than to be appreciated, any attention was better than none, even if it wasn't entirely innocent. Besides, he was cute when he was embarrassed. It made him difficult to stay angry with. "Naruto-kun, I know you're not a pervert." She took a deep breath. Since they've already had managed to work themselves into an awkward situation, might as well take that last step and make things downright uncomfortable, after all, they'd need to talk about it eventually. "About what happened last night..."

Naruto blushed harder. "I um... It..."

"Neither of us were in our right minds." She sighed. "We were both drunk and acted like fools."

Naruto lowered his hand and stared at her.

"But Haku-chan... I... I wouldn't..." Naruto couldn't help being confused. Last night was, well, the affection-starved boy found himself cursing his sensei for interrupting it. Haku was so soft, so warm, and how she touched him, he sighed. It was overwhelming to a boy who could probably count how many times he'd been hugged in his life on both hands.

"I know you wouldn't. It was nice being close to someone, even though it wasn't," She paused, looking for the correct word, "Appropriate." She sighed and lowered her head. "By showing my secret, I've endangered myself, Naruto-kun"

"What? Why?" Naruto asked, even more confused. Haku was really strong! Stronger than he was, well, at least without using the fox's chakra at least.

"Why would you hide what you are? You're awesome!"

"Naruto-kun," she asked seriously. "Do you have any idea what Kiri hunter-nin do to Kunoichi they capture alive before they kill them?"

Naruto frowned and shook his head. From Haku's tone of voice though, it couldn't be anything good.

She paused and looked at him levelly. He really couldn't be that naive, could he? "You really don't, do you."

"No...," Naruto admitted.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. In the past, Zabuza had told her many times that the ninja of Konohagakure were soft. While she would never insult them by saying it aloud, it was true. They were soft, but she believed that there was a strength in that softness. Those who hardened their hearts lacked the ability to form bonds with others, to find precious people. If Naruto was indicative of their genin, then it really was a two edged sword. They formed bonds easily allowing them to draw great strength from their attachments, but at the same time they were left blind to some of the true horrors of the world. She released her breath and opened her eyes. "Without the protection of a Hidden Village, chances are that if I am ever capture alive by hunter-nin, I will be brutally raped and then tortured to death."

Naruto stared in slack jawed horror at Haku, and then his eyes narrowed to slits, literally, as a wellspring of righteous, burning rage rose up from the depths of Naruto's heart. He hadn't known Haku for long, but she was a good person and he'd be damned if he let anything like that happen to her!

"Well then, you're coming back to Konoha with us!" Naruto said. His tone brooked no argument.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun," Haku said after a moment's reflection. "But I am afraid that is neither of our decisions to make."

"I'm sure the Old Man will let you into the village! I mean, there's gotta be some way to do it!" Naruto said in an enthusiastic voice.

Haku smiled thinly. She doubted it would be so easy, but his optimism was pleasant to be around, albeit hard on her headache. "You are a very special person, Naruto-kun."

Naruto blushed, and grinned widely at her.

"Well, so are you to me!"

Haku flushed and smiled softly as she felt a warmth rise up from chest. "Naruto-kun, were you serious when you said that I am a precious person to you?"

"I am serious," Naruto said with complete sincerity. "Totally seriously. I promise to do whatever it takes to keep you safe. And I always keep my promises, always. Dattebayo!"

"Thank you, Naruto-kun." Her smile widened. "And I was serious with mine. I will do all I can to help you achieve your dreams."

"Well then, that's all there is to it," Naruto nodded. "We'll achieve our dreams together, Haku-chan! I promise!"

Haku smiled radiantly at the boy, and looking at him with kindly. "Naruto-kun," she began softly.

Naruto blushed and with his heart pounding in his chest, he reached out to take Haku's hand, and looked her right in the eyes. It felt a bit cheesy, but it seemed to work in the few films he'd managed to sneak into to see.

"Yes, Haku-chan?"

"Would you please be kind enough get me a glass of water, some pain killers, and maybe some real senbon? I am in a great deal of pain right now," she stated in a matter of fact way.

Naruto coughed, and let her hand go as the moment shattered around him. "Um, right. I'll be right back."

2

Tsunami smiled to herself as the smell of grilling fish permeated the air of her home's kitchen. For the first time since Kaiza's death, she wasn't plagued by the nagging sense of dread that had overtaken the entire country. For the first time in a long time, the Country of Wave was free from Gato's tyranny. To her, this was a double relief, as it also meant that her father was no longer being targeted by Gato's thugs and ninja.

She frowned slightly. Gato's ninja. There was the one sore point that threatened to ruin her relief. Last night they'd brought home that cross dressing ninja girl of Gato's. She knew ninja didn't take little things like attempted murder personally, it was just business. But she wasn't a ninja and she'd already lost her husband to that bastard midget, how dare they try and kill her father?

Really, the only reason she even let the girl into her house was because she'd felt some sympathy for her. According to the ninja she'd just lost someone important to her, and despite her own apprehension, Tsunami had decided that it would be cruel to just throw her out into the cold to fend for herself. Of course, she'd immediately gone and spent all that good will by getting drunk in her furo and almost having her way with Naruto-kun! Oh, that girl was just lucky she'd been putting Inari to bed because if she'd been there to see that particular bit of chaos, ninja or not, heads would have rolled! Even now, the only reason she didn't kick out that cross dressing seductress was that she didn't want to anger Kakashi and Naruto after all they'd done for her family.

"Hey, Tsunami-neechan? Do we have some aspirin or anything like that? I didn't find any in our first aid kits so I gotta ask you."

Tsunami almost jumped out of her skin. She hadn't heard him coming at all! How could a kid that loud move so silently? It was moments like this that reminded her, that while yes Naruto was a sweet, adorable, hyperactive boy, he was also a trained assassin. Regardless of that, he still managed to be one of the most genuinely good natured people she'd ever met. She smiled. He was a wonderful young man.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, but I believe we're out. I believe you sensei already used the last of them." Then he threw her the bottle and told her to go buy more. Damn freeloader.

"Oh man!" Naruto muttered. He shook his head and sighed. "Senbon it is, I guess..."

Naruto pulled out his canteen, filled it up from the tap, and started towards the door. Once he reached in he turned around and smiled at her. "Thanks, Tsunami-neechan!"

Tsunami frowned slightly. She could hear a weariness in his voice, and she didn't like it. "Is something the matter?"

"Hm?" Naruto blinked. "Oh. No. Haku-chan's just got a headache. I was just getting her some water."

"About that," she crossed her arms and looked at him sternly, her frown deepening into a full scowl. "While I do understand that you are... of that age, you will behave yourselves in this house! You are very fortunate that Inari wasn't here when your friend had his fit. That is a talk that I would like avoid for the next few years. Do you understand me, young man?"

Naruto blushed deeply in embarrassment and scratched the back of his head with a big, silly grin on his face. "Right, Tsunami-neechan! Er, sorry about that. It won't happen again, promise!"

"It better not," she replied glaring at him.

"I'm sorry," he said again, visibly wilting under her gaze as he began to look down at his feet. It cut deeply to have someone he liked look at him like that. It felt like the cold stares of the villagers. "I really am."

Tsunami's annoyance vanished in a moment, replaced by concern. He'd saved her life. He'd saved her son's life. He'd saved her father's life. He'd brought hope back to their entire country. He'd defeated Gato's minions with his own two... thousand hands. He was a hero, yet he was shrinking away from a simple glare as if it were a dagger to his throat. While she was angry with him, the boy had well earned a place in her heart. She didn't know why he was reacting like this, but she didn't like it.

Her face lit up with an angelic smile as she stared down at the strange boy with an almost maternal affection. Gently, she placed her hand on his head, much like she'd do with Inari when he'd behaved inappropriately and accepted that he'd done wrong. "I accept your apology, Naruto-kun," she said in the very same voice she'd have used with her son.

The effect was almost immediate. Naruto's eyes lit up with the same passion she'd come to expect of him, and his endearing smile returned, as bright as ever. "Thank you, Tsunami-neechan!"

"So, Haku-san has a hangover?" she asked sternly, changing the subject for the time being, withdrawing her hand and crossing her arms ever so slightly.

"Er... Yes, yes she does," Naruto said, fidgeting. While before her stare had reminded him of the villagers, now she reminded him of Iruka-sensei when he caught him greasing the toilet seats in the facility lounge... again.

Again his reaction was much stronger than she'd expect. While she was not an expert in some things, she liked to at least think she at least was somewhat competent at reading others, and Naruto's was acting more like a boy Inari's age than the young teenager that she assumed him to be.

She didn't like the effect, and she certainly did not like the implications. Feeling that she owed the boy a bit of explanation for her coldness on the subject, she smiled at the boy and explained. "Naruto-kun, while I do understand that you, as ninja, don't take such thing personally, she did try to kill my father, and I am not a ninja."

"I know, Tsunami-nee-chan, I know, but... But she isn't going to now! And he's not dead! And she just lost, well... Her father, basically," Naruto said. It was the best analogy he could draw.

She nodded, but scowled slightly. "I understand that, but that girl is trouble. Getting drunk and trying to seduce you? You deserve better."

Naruto flushed brightly and began to twiddle his thumbs. "Actually, that's all my fault," he admitted after a minute of studying his toes.

"What?" Tsunami asked levelly.

"I was the one who brought the Sake into the bath."

"What." Tsunami repeated, her eyes narrowing somewhat. Hero or not, if she found out this brat was trying to take advantage of a young woman who'd just lost her father...

"I didn't know she was a girl, and Kakashi sensei gave me the sake, and he said that it helps make the pain stop and that friendships start when you drink together, and then I thought Haku might like a drink, and things just kind of happened, dattebayo!" he quickly explained, his words melting together in a single barely coherent whole.

Tsunami's twitching eyebrow moved into overtime as her righteous feminine rage shifted targets. First, he reads those perverted orange books in front of her little boy. Then he freeloads without even as much as a thank you. Now he sets up sweet Naruto-kun and that apparently innocent and grieving Haku girl up for this kind of embarrassment?!

Tsunami took a deep breath. Alright, she was decided. Hatake Kakashi must die, and if she had any realistic chance of being successful she would have gone into his room right then and smother him to death with a pillow.

After a moment, Tsunami sighed deeply and with a shake of her head, began to collect herself. Then without a word spoken, she began to rummage through the shelves and drawers of her kitchen, collecting a bewildering series of strange ingredients, including but not limited to raw eggs, soy sauce, beef bullion, cold black tea, and raw wasabi from around the kitchen. Then with practice ease, she dumped the ingredients into the blender and moments later poured the resulting viscous mass into a glass which she then offered to Naruto. "Give her this."

"What is it?" Naruto asked, wearily studying the liquid as if he was afraid it was going to leap out of the glass and attack him. Not an entirely unreasonable reaction, really.

"Hangover cure," she replied, matter of factly "Tell her to pinch her nose and drink it all in one go or it won't work."

"Are you sure this is even fit for human consumption?" he asked, still unsure.

"Probably not," she admitted, "But it works for my father, and he's still alive." Thanks to you.

Naruto's face lit back up. "Okay! Thanks, Tsunami-neechan!" Naruto said, hugging the older woman a bit awkwardly. Still, it was the best way he could think of to convey his thanks.

"You're welcome, Naruto-kun. Just tell her to behave herself while she's staying here! I will allow no funny business in this house!"

"I understand, Tsunami-neechan. Don't worry, no funny business!" Naruto repeated, heading out the door. His newly awakened libido cheered on the fact that there were many ways to exploit the language.

2 2

Sakura yawned and scratched the back of her head as she walked out of the bathroom. After the last week, oh she was so happy that she'd been given a chance to sleep in. With a smile on her face she took in a deep breath from her nose. She immediately regretted it.

"What is that STENCH?" she exclaimed, gagging and pinching her nose in hopes of keeping any more of the reeking odor out. "It smells like rotten feet!"

With a grimace on her face she turned towards the source of the stench, and of course, without any doubt, she should have known. It was coming from Naruto.

She frowned. Okay, what's he up to this time? What could have done to create such a stink?

Did he shit himself or something?

She resisted the urge to shake her head. Nah, he wasn't that bad.

True, but he was still an idiot.

And a far cry from Sasuke! Shannaro!

She grinned like a shark and nodded, in complete agreement with herself. Still, she needed to see what the heck was going on.

Blissfully unaware of Sakura's ongoing inner dialog, Naruto smiled as he passed her and paused to say hello. "Oh, hey Sakura-chan!"

Sakura frowned at him and looked down at the glass of... something in his hands. With a grimace on her face she immediately knew that it was the origin this horrible smell. She could almost taste it. Yuck.

"What is that... stuff?" she demanded, her disgust apparent.

"It's a hangover cure for Haku-chan," Naruto replied.

"How is that supposed to cure a hangover? Make him forget about it due to the smell?" Sakura scowled, crossing her arms. "And how would you know how to make a hangover cure anyways?"

"I don't, Tsunami-neechan made it," Naruto said. He shrugged and scowled. "I don't know how it works, but if Tsunami-neechan says it will, then it will!"

Sakura blinked. "Oh." After a moment she frowned. Sakura frowned. "So... what exactly happened last night?"

Naruto blushed heavily. "Um... Well... Er... Why do you want to know?" He asked quietly.

She glared at him angrily, her eyebrow a twitching freely. Really, the only reason she didn't hit him right there was she was afraid that cup of stuff would eat through the floorboards, or ever worse, get on her. "What did you do to Haku-san?"

Naruto smiled nervously. Sakura was unpredictable, crazy, and violent-He had to admit that for some reason that was part of the reason he liked her. But he didn't want Sakura to upset the cure and water he had for Haku, so he was forced to do something he was not accustomed to: making fast excuses.

"Huh? Nothing! I didn't do anything to her! What makes you think I did anything with her!" He paused awkwardly and quickly amended his statement, "To her?"

"Nothing, then what was that Sasuke said about you making out with..." she paused for a moment as she rewound their conversation. Wait a second... "Her?!" she exclaimed, "Haku's a girl?!"

"Well... Yeah, she is a girl!" Naruto said. He couldn't help the dopey smile that emerged on his face as he recalled just how much of a girl she really was.

Sakura began to twitch madly, trying to decide how to react.

She was going to kill him! That damn pervert! Poor Haku-san was upset over her father and he tried to take advantage her! She was going to make him wish he was never born!

Bah. He was probably just being an idiot. Bet he didn't even know she was a girl. Heck, Naruto wouldn't know sex if you forced him to read a copy of Icha Icha.

Though he was still the pervert who created that perverted Oiroke no Jutsu!

But he was a pervert who uses perversion against other perverts. When it comes to his own self he's a total moron. For the kami's sake, he was too dense to notice how hard Hinata had it for him, and she had it so bad it was downright creepy.

Stalker creepy.

She hated people like that.

Yeah, but Haku's a girl? What a disappointment. Even though he's an idiot, Naruto's still pretty cute, at least when he' wasn't talking.

Not as cute as Sasuke.

Of course not, but still cute, and Haku made a really cute guy. Just the idea of two guys that cute in the steamy bath naked, glistening bodies, showing their love for each other...

Yeah. That sucked, but at least she saw Sasuke's thingy!

Shannaro! Beat that Ino-pig! Bahahaha!

Naruto felt a bit awkward just standing there as Sakura spaced out with that creepy smile on her face. It was like she wasn't even there. After a moment he wove his hand in front of her face. Nada. He stepped back and grimaced. Was that drool?

"Er, Sakura-chan? You all right?" Naruto asked, concerned.

"Ah, what?" Sakura asked snapping back to reality. "What were we talking about again?"

"Um," Naruto found that thinking was actually a very helpful thing to do. Past experience, combined with his knowledge of Sakura's personality, forced him to the conclusion that he should take a break when he saw one. "Haku being a girl. Speaking of which, I need to go see her, she has a hangover and stuff."

Sakura blushed and nodded. "Um. Right. You go do that."

Wow. Naruto took a deep breath as he left. Thinking before I act kinda kicks ass! I'll have to do it more often.

Quickly putting his crazy teammate behind him, he entered Haku's room, smiling brightly.

He felt a sting of pity mixed with guilt as he saw Haku laying on her futon with her head under her pillow, moaning pitifully. She was laying on her stomach with her rear slightly in the air. Now, that was one part of her that he hadn't seen the night before, but from what he could guess through the thin robe it was as well formed as the rest of her. He shook his head, banishing the bad thoughts.

With a frown on his face, he sat down next to her. "Haku-chan? I'm back... I've got some water and a hangover cure," He winced. He'd gotten so mixed up with Sakura-chan, he'd forgotten to check their weapons pile for Haku-chan's needles! Now he really felt like a jerk! Regardless, he continued. Maybe she wouldn't need them. He continued, "Tsunami-nee-chan made it... She says to pinch your nose and drink it all at once though, otherwise it won't work."

Haku turned over and looked at the glass of 'cure' dubiously. Honestly, he couldn't blame her. "Are you sure that isn't some kind of poison?"

"Tsunami-neechan wouldn't poison you," Naruto hoped. "She says it hasn't killed her dad yet, and she makes it for him all the time."

"Are you sure?" she asked taking the glass and looking at it with a grimace that was almost comical on such a pretty face. "I-I think its moving..."

"I know it smells horrible but I trust her," Naruto said more firmly this time.

She looked at him for a moment then nodded. Slowly, she pinched her nose and started to drink it. Her face twisted into a mask of complete suffering, but she kept chugging until its gone. The second she was finished though, she roughly pushed the glass into Naruto's hands and made a B-line for the rest room holding her mouth.

Naruto, alarmed, ran in behind her, ignoring Sakura's indignant sputtering as he pushed past her. Inside he found Haku on her knees, worshiping the porcelain goddess, offering up the contents of her stomach in sacrifice to the toilet gods.

Naruto was reminded of the time that time Ayame got really sick and he'd stayed with her and her dad for a week to help take care of her so her father didn't have to close the restaurant. He simply stood back, held her hair, rubbed her back, and let her do what she needed to, like he'd done for Ayame when she was ill.

He looked back at the door and saw Sakura on the other side. At first she was giving him a dirty look, after all, he'd just followed a scrambling girl into the toilet. This was only momentary though, as assumption quickly gave way to comprehension, and her face softened until she simply nodded to him and closed the sliding door behind them.

Once she was finished heaving, Haku slowly sat on the tile floor and looked over to him. "Naruto-kun," Haku said wearily, glaring at him but not particularity angry. "Next time you hand me some mysterious, vile smelling sludge and call it a cure, I'm going to force you to drink it yourself."

"Um, fair enough," Naruto said, handing her the canteen and offering to help her up.

She accepted both, and stumbled over to the sink, leaning over it for support.. Looking in the mirror, she frowned slightly at her split lip and the black and blue bruises on her face. Naruto winced as if struck. He caused those. He hurt her, and while she was an enemy at the time, he still didn't like being responsible.

Not noticing Naruto's discomfort, Haku used the canteen it to wash out her mouth and grimaced, rubbing her temples. She looked back down at the canteen then drank the rest and smiled. Looking back to Naruto, she said, "I actually think it worked."

Naruto's sorrow was lightened by the sound of relief in her voice. "Well, see? That's great! Told ya," Naruto grinned.

She scowled and grabbed her side with a wince as she stood up, no longer in pain but still unsteady on her feet. "Please, Naruto. It no longer a constant ache, but I still feel sensitive to light and sound."

Naruto grimaced, once again feeling responsibility for her discomfort. "Alright, Haku-chan," he replied with a nod. "Here, I'll give you a hand."

Being careful not to grope her by accident, he wrapped an arm around her waist to support her, as they slowly made their way out of the restroom.

In the living room Sakura frowned for a moment in internal debate, then asked, "Naruto, where's Kakashi-sensei?"

"He said we could sleep in," Naruto replied. "But Tsunami-neechan's almost done breakfast, so maybe you should wake him and Sasuke up. I'm going to help Haku out."

She nodded to him and he continued on to Haku's room. Once they were inside, he closed the door, helped her lay back down on her futon, and sat nearby, feeling rather self-conscious.

"Um... Haku-chan?" He began. He was trying to find something to say, but this thinking thing made it hard to just blurt out whatever came to mind. He was actually glad about that. Asking her if they could make out some more probably wouldn't go over well.

"Hmmm? Yes, Naruto-kun?" she asked, turning to him.

He sucked in a deep breath as he looked at her. She was sitting on the futon, leaning back against the wall with her legs extended and slightly spread, dressed in a yukata that looked to be a couple sizes too large. The thin robe fell open about her breasts, not enough to flash him like before, but enough to display cleavage. The robe was riding up slightly given him an uninterrupted view of smooth legs and hint of creamy white thighs. "So do you need my help with anything?" He asked, part of him hoping beyond hope that whatever she asked would involve getting naked.

Haku nodded and lifted up what looked like a bandage from her clothes pile. "I'd like you to help me put on my breast bindings. With the soreness in my muscles I find that I do not have the range of motion to put them on properly."

"Sure thing Haku-chan!" Naruto grinned. So it all actually was true. There really was a God, and he did listen to our prayers!


	3. Chapter 3

Kakashi suppressed a yawn as he stepped into the bathroom. While normally he woke up early, today he decided that everyone had earned a good night sleep. It wasn't everyday that a genin team was able to take down a borderline S-rank nukenin, potentially secured a powerful kekkei genkai for their village, had a team member unlock another, and then rounded it all out by effectively exterminating an entire army of bandits. Then, to make matters even more interesting, one of his cute little genin lost his innocence in battle then followed it up by almost losing his 'innocence' to a hot older kunoichi, a nukenin whose shapely little ass he'd kicked just hours before. It brought a tear to his eye. They grow up so fast!

Glancing about for a moment to make sure the coast was clear, Kakashi pulled down his mask and began to brush his teeth, letting his mind wander back to his previous train of thought.

Ah, Naruto. Boy really was full of surprises. Until now he'd had the sinking suspicion that the kid had inherited his father's hair, his mother's personality, and neither of their talent... but in this case it seems that the biggest mouth came with the biggest set of teeth. He almost wished that Sasuke had taken his time before going for a bath. Dealing with the 'aftermath' would have been damned annoying, but after Naruto's exemplary performance that day, he felt a just bit guilty for cock blocking the poor kid.

Kakashi was willing to admit that even he would have had a bitch of a time dealing with all those bandits, at least without pulling out some of his more destructive area of effect jutsu that would have done as much damage to the bridge as to the bandits. Naruto on the other hand just pulled his own army out of his ass and met them head on. He lost a couple points for style, for just charging in without a plan, but still the boy had still earned an A for Awesome.

He moved his toothbrush about and nodded. Thinking back to Haku, Kakashi himself had to admit that while she was a bit on the young side, he'd have had a hard time saying no to a teenage hottie like that. Although it had been called for under his duty as a teacher to embarrass his students at any and all opportunity, it still was an unforgivable breach of Man Law that demanded recompense. He'd definitely have to make it up to the kid for, as Gai would put it, 'dousing the flames of his youth'.

He bit the toothbrush head and wiggled the handle from side to side, thinking. How to make it up to the boy? Considering how jutsu mad the gaki was, he knew all would be forgiven with a new technique; he couldn't just teach the kid a new one. It would be unfair to his other students and teaching them all a new technique would undermine the entire point. What to do... What to do...

He grinned. Oh yeah. He'd simply pass the kid a copy of the standard Shadow Clone scroll from the Jonin Library when they got back home. Now while it might seem like a weak way to say 'sorry', considering that the brat already knew the damned technique, the simple fact was that Naruto had learned it by reverse engineering Taijuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu into the standard version. The standard scroll's instructions included essays on a number of creative uses for the techniques. Everything from serving as the perfect expendable scout, to speeding up your learning time, to helping you deal with unwanted paperwork. The Forbidden Scroll on the other hand, he had a strong feeling the use instructions consisted of all of one word: 'Don't'.

He'd also have to exhibit Bushin Bakuha no Jutsu at some point. If anything could get a kid who was able to safely use Mass Shadow Clones to sit down, shut up, and do what he was told, it was the offer of the Explosive Clone Technique. Now, he knew he wouldn't be able to lord it over the kid forever, but by the time he was sick of chasing that carrot on a stick, Sasuke would be ready to learn some advanced Katon techniques and he guessed he could ship Sakura off to the hospital for some medic training, or something along those lines.

Sakura. He sighed. Honestly, he wasn't exactly sure what to do with the girl. She was simply not suitable for the kind of training he could teach effectively. All of Kakashi's own strengths were her weaknesses. He was a ninjutsu specialist who focused on heavy combat and assassination, most of which were highly complicated techniques that benefited from good control but required great deal of power. Sakura on the other had some of the best and finest control he'd ever seen from a genin, but almost laughable chakra reserves. In other words, she was a natural Genjutsu type. Not for the first time he regretted that he hadn't put more effort into talking Kurenai out of the Hyuga heir. Under Kurenai she would have been able to play to her strengths, and away from Sasuke she'd have had a chance to become something more than the head of the last Uchiha's cheerleading section. He shook his head. With a Hyuga he could have done so much more. Oh well, hindsight was 20/20, and this wasn't greatest mistake he'd made in his life.

He opened his Sharingan eye and looked into it before letting it morph into its advanced form. No, very far from it.

Closing Obito's eye, he spit out the toothpaste in his mouth and drew a glass of water from the sink. Taking a sip of it he started to swish it through his mouth, still thinking. Banishing his momentary melancholy, he smiled. Naruto and Sasuke on the other hand had the potential to be a source of infinite amusement. Now that Sasuke had unlocked his Sharingan, he'd literally be able to learn new techniques at a glance. He'd expected this and had been preparing for it

Naruto on the other hand was a pleasant but unexpected surprise. He'd expected a loud mouthed moron and hadn't been disappointed. Much to his own disgust, he'd almost been ready to simply dismiss the kid as more dead weight, but then he'd gone and proven Kakashi wrong. Oh, he was still a loudmouth, but the kid seemed to work well under pressure and had proven to be the greatest master of the Shadow Clone technique he'd ever seen. He'd been able to learn the kinjutsu version in just one night and was able to create literally an army at will. For all of his faults, one couldn't question the boy's work ethic; and with his mastery of Kage Bunshin, he'd be able to literally log thousands of man-hours of training in a single day.

The genius bloodline of the Uchiha clan versus the ultimate genius of hard work. Would be one hell of a show. He chuckled. He'd have to keep this quiet. The last thing he wanted to deal with was Maito Gai trying to fan their Flames of Youth. Double true if he brought his team. Gai could be bad enough alone, Gai plus his creepy little Mini Me was downright excessive.

3

Sasuke scowled for probably the fifteenth time in so many minutes as he picked at his breakfast completely ignoring the world around him. In all honesty he was in a pretty foul mood after the humiliating display the night before, and was only compounded by one especially painful fact. The dobe was closer to rebuilding his clan than Sasuke himself. Sasuke had no doubts that the fool was from some ninja clan. His insane endurance, near bottomless chakra reserves, and rapid healing couldn't be anything but a kekkei genkai. It made him question why the other boy was so hated by the villagers. Was he the only survivor of a clan of traitors?

Sasuke snorted. It didn't matter. He refused to judge a person on the sins of his kin; otherwise he might be forced to draw comparisons between himself and That Man. He could safely say he disliked Naruto on his own merits. He was a blithering idiot who refused to accept the superiority of the natural genius of the Uchiha clan over the power of his own bloodline, no matter how formidable it may be. Now that he'd unlocked his own kekkei genkai, Sasuke was sure that he leave the dobe in the dust, though even if he didn't, he did respect the fools tenacity, not that he'd ever admit it aloud.

Forcing his thought processes back on track, he raged at the indignity of it all. The idiot had been moments away from going all the way with an extremely beautiful and skilled girl, the kind of woman that Sasuke would have a hard time saying no to. It was just unfair! The dead last moron from a clan that had obviously done some ill so great that the adults were forbidden to speak of them had strong and beautiful kunoichi attracted to him, while he, the last member of the greatest clan in the whole of the elemental nations had fucking Pinky and the Blonde, along with the rest of the legion of useless fangirls trailing behind him like goldfish shit.

While he wasn't old enough to rebuild his clan as of yet, when he was, in a couple of years, he'd require women who were emotionally and physically prepared to go about the long and bloody work of rebuilding his clan. He needed mothers, not a pack of vapid, romance addled fangirls who were too blind to see the world as it was beyond their own petty delusions. Hell, even the Hyuga would be a step up. Sure there was the overriding issue of doujutsu incomparability which made such a coupling untenable, but at least she seemed to have a reasonable level of emotional and mental maturity, even if she was a doormat. She had a clear enough head to understand that he had no time for foolish romance and probably the fortitude and definitely the patience to be a good mother. She also had great tits for her age. Oh, why couldn't he attract older women, like Kiba's hot sister, or even that scantily clad psychopath that worked for ANBU T&I?

It that wasn't humiliating enough, that entire 'gay' scene made him look like a complete and utter tool. How was he supposed to know she was a woman? It was misty in there, he couldn't see any of her goods from where he'd been, and had taken the dobe's word for it, damn it! Still, it hasn't been a total loss. He'd seen her boobs and he had to admit, that they were a damned fine set. He smirked. It made him want to start 'interviewing' potential Uchiha mothers right away.

There was one negative side effect though. He simply couldn't ignore the poorly hidden glances that Sakura was sneaking at him and Naruto. That creepy, lecherous smile of hers was even worse. He grimaced and tried to side away from her, but she slid right back up next to him. He hadn't been of a mind to really consider it at the time, but she'd collapsed with a nosebleed when he'd mentioned that Haku and Naruto were being 'gay' in the bath. He shuddered. Not only was she useless, but she was also into Yaoi. And she had the gall to call Naruto a pervert because he'd been clever enough to create a technique as effective, abet silly, as the Orioke no Jutsu? Hypocrite.

3 3

Kakashi cheerfully entered the room with a smile under his mask. As per the norm, he was late. After all, he did have a reputation to uphold. As he'd expected, everyone was already at the table. Sasuke seemed to be in an especially foul mood today, something most people wouldn't be able to tell, considering his moods tended to hover between grumpy, grouchy, and pissy at all times.

Also per usual, Sakura was hovering over him like a vulture circling a dying yak, blissfully unaware of the fact that the object of her affection was completely ignoring her at best, and remaining silently contemptuous of her affections at worst. Naruto was surprisingly bright eyed and cheerful for someone who'd drained half a bottle of cheap, high potency sake the night before, and was sitting tellingly close to Haku. Now as for the pretty little nukenin, she looked exactly as you'd expect of the person who'd drained the other half of aforementioned bottle of rot-gut: absolutely miserable, and much to Kakashi's eternal amusement, was shooting telling glances at his most loud mouthed genin.

Ah, young sexual tension, it was just like Icha Icha!

Now, the civilians seemed to be mostly an improvement from their normal pitifully obnoxious states. Tazuna was actually sober for once, standing tall, proud, and actually managing to not smell like a distillary. Inari seemed almost irritatingly happy and content with himself, which was a major improvement from the annoying, pessimistic little shit he'd acted like up to this point. Tsunami on the other hand was shooting an almost unbelievable amount of killing intent for an untrained civilian at him. He was impressed. If she'd been trained she'd probably be able to kill a lesser man with it. Now, he didn't know what he'd done to piss the MILF off, but if it made her this angry, finding out was probably a good idea.

"Good morning!" he happily announced.

"You're late." Sakura snapped.

Kakashi happily ignored her griping, as usual, and looked to the bridge builder's hot daughter as he took his seat. Tsunami's eyes narrowed and a very palpable chill made its way up his spine. Damn! Woman had missed her calling! If she'd been trained as a ninja, she'd might even be scarier than Anko, and that's one freaky bitch!

"Is something the matter?" he asked, wondering exactly what had gotten her silky whites in a bunch.

"I do not appreciate you sending a young man into my furo with a bottle of sake while it was occupied by a teenage girl," she snapped in response.

Naruto blushed brightly and looked over to her. "Um. Don't be mad at Kakashi-sensei, Tsunami-neechan."

Tsunami glared at him expectantly so he continued, "Yesterday, when I fought all those thugs," he took a deep breath, "I'd never killed anyone before."

Naruto's statement crashed over the room like a wave. Immediately all eyes were on the boy. Sasuke was looking at him with a palpable sense of respect, and nodded in acknowledgment of his ability, a first. Sakura was agape, probably not having been able to look past Sasuke during the fight to even realize that Naruto'd been protecting them. Haku smiled sadly and placed her hand on Naruto's to comfort him. Tsunami was simply agape, her civilian mind having probably not comprehended that a boy barely into his adolescence could be a killer, even in the aftermath of a pitched battle, Inari was looking at Naruto with the complete admiration that only hero worship could bring, and Tazuna, Tazuna stood up from his place at the head of the table.

The drunken bridge builder looked at Naruto with hard eyes for a moment, taking the boy in, and then he bowed, deeply. "Thank you very much, Naruto-kun."

Kakashi grinned. Even with such a serious subject, it was entertaining to see Naruto's blushing like mad and scratching the back of his head with a stupid smile on his face, basking in the well deserved attention.

"You know," Kakashi remarked, "Naruto took out the thugs, but it was Haku who killed Gato." If credit was being passed around, the girl deserved some. That had been one hell of a shot. Artistically done and with outstanding timing, if he had to say so himself.

Tsunami turned to Haku and after a moment of thought, bowed slightly to her. "Thank you, Haku-san. By killing Gato you have done my people a great service. I apologize for my harsh treatment of you."

Haku smiled at the older woman. "Thank you, Tsunami-san, but it is I who should be apologizing to you. I aided in attempts to kill one of your loved ones, yet you still have found it within you to open your home to me. It is I who should be apologizing to you."

Tsunami flushed slightly and smiled. "You are not what I expected Haku-san."

"You expected someone colder and more bloodthirsty?" Haku asked.

Tsunami nodded with frown.

"I am Shinobi," Haku replied, "I have no animosity towards your father and do not wish him any harm, but Zabuza-san took the contract from Gato and so I was required to act against him. As cold as it may sound, it was not personal and I'd have much rather have left you to live your lives in peace."

Tsunami scowled. "The life of ninja sounds very cold and unfeeling."

Haku nodded, sadly. "That it is. There are times I envy you civilians and your ability to live your lives free of the callous and impersonal nature of the ninja way."

"It almost sounds like you don't really want to be a ninja," Sakura thought aloud.

"No," Haku said, clarrifying. "It is not that I did not wish to become a ninja and more that I was never given a choice. It was the dictate of my bloodline."

Sakura blinked. "What do you mean?"

"That," Haku replied, calmly but with a slight chill to her voice, making it clear she did not want to discuss it. "Is an intensely personal question that touches upon parts of my past that I'd rather not speak of."

"Hm." Sasuke nodded to Haku in understanding.

Kakashi rolled his eye at the breakfast table drama unfolding before him and helped himself to some rice, miso, and a bit of grilled fish. Once everything seemed back on track, he turned to Tazuna and absently asked, "Our contract requires us to remain here until the bridge has been completed. I need to know how long it will be before it is finished."

Tazuna sighed. "At the current rate? Mid June."

"Oh man," Naruto whined. "We're going to be stuck here forever!"

The old man scowled and shot the genin a dirty look. "Listen, kid, we have to repair all of the equipment that Zabuza smashed, then I'm going to have to replace all of the workers that Gato ran off while I was out of the country. All of this takes time. So, unless you can pull an army out of your...," the old man trailed off then smiled from ear to ear, looking at the genin the way a bear might look at an especially plump hiker. "Say, kid, you ever consider working in construction?"

"What?" Naruto asked.

"I mean with that clone thing you can do I won't have to worry about finding new workers."

"Sure," Naruto replied. "Anything to get out of here."

Kakashi coughed, attracting both of their attentions. "There are bylaws in the Konoha Mission Codes that cover ninja doing side jobs while on assignment. If he accepts you'll be required to file it as a long duration D-rank mission and pay accordingly. I'd go into more detail, but it's all in the contract scroll you got when you hired us."

Tazuna nodded. "Alright. I'll read over it."

Kakashi nodded. "Fair enough. We also need to discuss how you're going to pay the difference between the C-ranked escort mission you hired us for and the A-ranked bodyguard mission it turned out to be. Because of the desperate situation your people were in, I'm going to ask the Hokage to waive the punitive fines but you're still going to have to pay the difference."

Tazuna grimaced. "Does it have to be all at once? Can't you just take it out of the bridge tolls or something?"

"We'll see. When we get back to Konoha I'll speak to the Hokage about it on your behalf," he paused before adding, "Though I strongly suggest you never attempt anything like that ever again. We are willing to forgive, but we do not forget."

The old man paled slightly and bowed his head. "I never will, and you have my thanks for your understanding."

"Ma, ma, don't thank me. It's rare that in the execution of our duties that Ninja are able to do something truly and undeniably good in nature." He glanced at the man sideways, "Had you actually come clean from the beginning about what you were dealing with, we probably would have handled this for you pro bono."

Tazuna blinked. "You're serious?"

He nodded. "Yes, high profile 'Good Guy' jobs like this are good for a village's reputation. If your little stunt hadn't put my genin's lives in danger I might have been even been tempted to ask the Hokage to excuse the difference on your behalf."

"Ah. I see. You have my thanks, Kakashi. You're an honorable man" Tazuna smiled and finished off his tea. "Ah! Well, now that's taken care of, time to get to work!" He stood up and smiled at Konoha's loudest genin. "Naruto, I look forward to showing you how the other side makes an honest living."

Naruto grinned, "Yeah, we'll see you old drunk."

Inari smiled and looked at his mother who nodded. Pushing up from the table he ran over to Tazuna. "I'll walk you to work, grandpa!"

Kakashi simply smiled as he table began to empty, with everyone going about their daily tasks, leaving just Tsunami waiting so he could finish. Looking back to his meal and picked up a piece of fish and began to eat.

"Tsunami-chan, have I told you that you're a wonderful cook?"

The woman frowned, and placed her hands on her hips. While she was not releasing the staggering amount of killing intent she had been before, it was apparently clear that she was annoyed. "Just hurry up and eat. I have to clean the dishes."

"You know," Kakashi observed, "It's rude to rush peoples digestion."

"It's rude to be late for a meal," she countered.

Kakashi simply took a sip of tea and shrugged.

Touche.

3 3 3

Haku smiled as she walked next to Naruto as the two left Tazuna's house. She didn't know where he was going but it was pleasant to walk with her friend regardless. Closing her eyes and took a deep breath knowing that she had a very busy day ahead of her. There were simply too many things that needed to get done and with her physical injury combined with her chakra fatigue she didn't feel in much of a condition to accomplish it. Still, she had to get it done regardless.

Looking at the younger boy next to her she pursed her lips thoughtfully. While she still didn't know Naruto very well, she was already well aware that he was the quite possibly the most energetic person she'd ever met. His personality was vibrant to the point of being overwhelming and his stamina was downright superhuman. While she hadn't seen it, she'd been told about the Shadow Clone army he'd used to defeat Gato's men. It was a little selfish, but just maybe- She smiled.

"Naruto-kun?" Haku asked.

"Yeah, Haku-chan?" the orange clad boy asked, looking up to her with a smile across his face. "What do you need?"

"Where are you headed?" she asked.

Naruto smiled. "I'm going into the woods to train. How about you?"

"Becoming stronger to protect your precious people?" Haku asked, wistfully.

"Yeah!" Naruto exclaimed. "I'm going to get stronger so I can protect you and everyone else I care about! Then I'll become Hokage and be able to protect everyone, and they'll have no choice but to acknowledge me because I'll be somebody that everyone can look up to!"

Haku's smile grew as she took in Naruto's words. It was strange to her that she was already beginning to feel the same kind of selfless dedication for him that she'd felt for Zabuza-san, but she guessed it was due to his nature. Already he counted her among his most precious people and it warmed her heart. He was a pure spirit, heroic and kind. The type of person who made you feel stronger just for knowing him, and who's radiance could bring the best out in people. This did make her wonder though.

Naruto had a passion for training that was beyond impressive, his spirit made him a natural leader of men, and his charka reserves were beyond ludicrous. Even discounting her own suspicions as to the nature of his frightening hidden power, he had the potential to become one of the most powerful ninja in the elemental countries, yet he was woefully under trained.

During their battle she'd clearly seen glaring weaknesses in his fighting style. The only ninjutsu she'd seen him use was the shadow clone technique and his taijutsu was a mess. It was inefficient and flashy. That wasn't to say that he wasn't any good. Strip her of her tools, and Haku had little doubt that she'd be hard pressed to keep up with him. Technically her skill level was superior, but he had superior strength and stamina, as well as the passion for taijutsu that she lacked. Haku despised pure hand to hand combat. She'd rather use weapons or close range ninjutsu then use taijutsu any day of the week. Yet despite his strengths and his passion, his skills were sorely lacking.

For some strange reason, Naruto's training was a joke, and she failed to get the punchline.

Haku suppressed a snort. She was reminded of something Zabuza-san had once said to her in passing. When you have a problem, you solve it. Now, when he'd said that he'd been speaking in reference to an especially tenacious hunter-nin, and his method of solving the problem had been to split the man from groin to scalp, but still, the point did stand. This was a problem and she was going to solve it.

"There are several things I must handle in the village, Naruto-kun," she said. "I was going to ask if you'd accompany me, but I have no wish to disturb your training. I will be in town most of the day."

Naruto's eyes widened and he began to make warding gestures with his hands. "It's okay, I can just train later!"

Haku smiled, though not with complete honesty. She felt a bit guilty about manipulating the boy. Naruto was lonely and he held onto moments of companionship like a drowning man gulps for air. Her only comfort was that by doing so she'd be furthering both their interests.

"But Naruto-kun, if you skip your training then how will you become strong enough to protect me?" she asked him, playfully.

Naruto blushed and scratched the back of his head, a bit embarrassed but emboldened by the closeness implied in the remark. "Well, I-," he trailed off, seemingly unsure of what to say

Haku pursed her lips and rubbed her chin, making a show of thinking before smiling once again, this time more honestly. "I've got it," she said.

Naruto grinned. "So you gonna teach me a cool new jutsu or something?"

"Actually," Haku replied, "Yes."

Naruto's eyes went wide as saucers and his jaw dropped. He actually looked something like a fish. He was utterly speechless. The look in his eyes was telling though. Before, the offer of a day's companionship was like a breath to a drowning man, but this was something that went above and beyond even that. It seemed like he was having trouble understanding that someone would actually say 'yes' to that question. There was total love and admiration in those eyes, and it angered her. Was he so neglected in his training that the simple offer of a new technique was something that meant so much to him?

Regaining his wits Naruto started to run and bounce around her like a hyperactive child, which in some ways he still was. She fought back a laugh. He must have been a terror as a student.

She paused for a moment and looked at the boy sadly. Her eyes had an immediate effect on Naruto. His energy stilled itself and he frowned slightly. "Are you alright, Haku?"

She fought down what she really wanted to ask and instead decided that she needed to keep to business. "Naruto-kun, what elemental affinity are you attuned to?"

Naruto blinked, obviously confused. "Elemental what?"

Haku frowned. She'd heard mention that in many countries they didn't bother to test for Elemental affinity until a ninja reached Chunin rank, but Zabuza had always said that was foolish. Elemental affinity was easy to test for and critical for a ninja's development. Even if you couldn't teach nature transformation to a Genin, you could still teach them jutsu of their element so they'd already have a repertoire of appropriate techniques at the ready when the time came.

"I don't have any bloodlines or anything," he continued. "I can't use ice or anything like you do."

Haku resisted the urge to grit her teeth. Again obvious holes in his education presented themselves. What was Konoha thinking sending him into the field so unprepared? What was that cyclopean scarecrow teaching him? It was making her headache come back.

"Honesty," she admitted, "I'm wondering how you can even use ninjutsu without knowing about basic chakra transformation. The Uchiha has his Fire Release technique so you have to have been taught at least a fundamental understanding of elemental chakra."

"Sasuke's known that jutsu for like ever," Naruto replied. "So what are you talking about?"

"Most ninja have an elemental affinity," she said. "A few have more than one. Out of those few, some have the natural ability to mix their affinities and create new elements. My elemental natures are wind and water, but my bloodline grants me the natural ability to combine them to create ice."

Naruto blinked. "Does that mean you can only use elemental jutsu that you have an affinity for?"

"No, it just makes creating them much easier," Haku paused for a moment and then decided to explain in full. "Using your elemental affinity is simple once you've learned how. It becomes literally second nature to you. Much of the work is instinctive and your chakra is able to naturally form that element with only minimal effort. Without an affinity, a jutsu will require additional hand seals to mold your raw chakra into that element. Would you like me to demonstrate?"

Naruto grinned. "Yeah, sure!"

"Alright. I will show you the Wild Water Wave technique as an example," she replied.

Dragon.

Tiger.

Hare.

She slowly moved her hands through the three seals needed to perform the technique so Naruto could see and then took a deep breath.

"Suiton: Mizurappa!"

She spat, shooting a small water jet across the clearing. Normally the power of her technique would have been much more impressive, but as she was low on energy and only giving Naruto an example, she had no desire to use more than the bare minimum of chakra.

"Huh, that's pretty cool, Haku-chan!" Naruto said with a smile. "Could you teach me that? Please?"

She smiled. "Maybe later, Naruto-kun, right now I'd like to finish what I'm doing first."

He grinned, clearly satisfied with her answer

"Now, I will show you it again using nature transformation. Observe."

This time, she only formed the Hare sign and repeated the technique, again shooting a small stream of water across the clearing.

"Do you see what I mean?" she asked.

"Yeah, you only had to use one hand seal this time," he observed.

"Correct," she replied, "Elemental mastery not only allows for faster performance of techniques, but it makes them more efficient, allowing for much greater power. That is why I asked you your elemental affinity."

"I get it now! Thanks Haku." He blushed, "I guess I don't know my affinity."

She nodded. "We will have to get some chakra testing papers soon. Besides my Hyoton abilities, I have mastered both Water and Wind transformation and know a number of Suiton and Futon jutsu. If either of them are your elemental nature I believe I could be of help to you," she paused for a moment, "Though if you're another elemental type, I will do what I can but I'm afraid I won't be much assistance."

"That's okay, Haku," he paused and then grinned widely, "So think we could get started now, even though we don't know my element?"

"Possibly," Haku rubbed her chin slightly, "Naruto, if I may ask, what has your sensei been teaching you?"

"Well, he taught us how to stick to trees," Naruto said.

She frowned deeply. "I was taught that when I was seven."

"Woah, seriously?" Naruto asked wide eyed. "You must be really strong!"

Ugh. What the hell was Konoha thinking? "Has he even started teaching you water walking?"

"No," Naruto admitted.

"Has he taught you anything else?"

Naruto frowned. "Not really. It's mostly been sparing and teamwork stuff."

"How long has he been your sensei?"

Naruto sighed. "A month or so."

"And all he's taught you is tree climbing?" she asked, almost not believing her ears. Of all the lazy useless- it made her want to scream! She frowned and shook her head, speaking as much to herself as to him. "You'll never get anywhere at this rate."

"I know, and it sucks!" Naruto exclaimed. He glared at her. The look of betrayal in his eyes was painful to behold "I thought you're different, but now you're telling me I'm a failure too?"

"No," She said, putting her hand on the shorter ninja shoulder. "You're not a failure. I think you have the potential to be the strongest ninja in the world."

"Really?" he asked, the anger and frustration in his voice vanishing instantly as if it had been cast to the wind.

Haku smiled. "Yes I do. I just think you need some individual instruction."

He looked hopefully at Haku. "So does that mean you're offering to train me?"

"Yes. Yes I am, Naruto-kun. I'll teach you whatever I can"

Naruto's smile as infectious. "Awesome! So we're going to start with that cool water jutsu, right?"

She shook her head.

He frowned. "Come on, Haku-chan!"

She looked at him and crossed her arms. "Zabuza-sama always said that if you're going to learn to use water as a weapon you better know how to walk it first."

"Oh," Naruto looked down for a moment before grinning and looking back up. "And then you'll teach me that one?"

She shook her head. "Naruto, I can't promise you that it will be next, but I will teach it to you. I do promises you that."

His smile grew even more. The look on his face only cemented her intention. She'd never seen anyone as happy as Naruto seemed to be right now. It reminded her of the drunken oaths they'd sworn to each other. She promised to help him achieve his dream, and he swore to protect her as one of his precious people. He was strong, and she believed in him.

"Though I warn you now though that you have a great deal to learn. Your fighting style is very sloppy."

Naruto frowned and looked at his feet. Unlike before he wasn't taking offense to her observations, rather he was listening to them, and while he didn't seem to like it, he was paying attention to them. "Well, yeah," he admitted, a little reluctantly. "I had to teach myself a lot."

That surprised her. A self taught ninja from one of the five main ninja villages? "Doesn't Konoha had a Ninja Academy."

"It does, but most of the instructors never had the time for me," Naruto said, scowling. "I tried to learn the forms everybody else did but when I needed help, nobody really gave me any. Except Iruka-sensei, but well-" Naruto sighed. "He tried his best, but he still had a whole class and all."

Haku grimaced. It was worse than she thought. "Were all of your instructors like that?"

Naruto nodded sadly. "Pretty much. Mizuki-sensei helped me out every once in a while, but considering he tried to kill me, I don't think that counts."

Haku blinked. Then she blinked again. What the? "You're telling me one of your teachers tried to kill you?"

"Yeah," Naruto admitted. "I failed the genin exam three times. They always asked us to do Bunshin no Jutsu but that's my worse technique. After I failed, he told me there was another secret test."

Haku grimaced. She didn't like where this was going.

"He told me that all I had to do was steal the forbidden scroll of sealing from the Hokage Tower and learn a jutsu from it, so I did." He grinned. "I even knocked out the old man with my awesome original jutsu."

"Huh?" Haku blinked. Did she just hear him right? Did a genin have a jutsu so powerful that he could bring down a kage? She had to know this technique! While it would do her little good now, she couldn't help but remember fighting the Mizukage and his terrible power. She had to believe there was something that could take that monster down, and if this was it, she had to see it. "Show me this jutsu," she demanded.

Naruto grinned. "Oiroke no Jutsu!"

In a burst of smoke, Naruto was replaced with a beautiful girl with long silky hair, generous curves, and not a stitch of clothing. In fact the only thing protecting her modesty at all was a few whiffs of smoke that actually seemed to be more strategically placed to draw attention to her assets than to hide them from view.

Haku felt her eyebrow twitch slightly. So, the Sandaime Hokage was a dirty old man and Naruto defeated him by flashing him. Wouldn't be of any use against Yagura, that was for sure. Though if she ever needed something with which to blackmail a Kage, this was certainly it. "What a tasteless technique."

Naruto giggled like the kind of shallow, air-headed civilian girl who liked to stalk her when she dressed as a boy and blew her a kiss. It made her skin crawl. "Tasteless, but effective!"

With a poof of smoke, Naruto changed back and grinned. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Haku frowned. Part of her wanted to smack him up the back of the head for coming up with such a perverse jutsu, but she had a feeling that this was one of those cases where if it was stupid and it worked, it wasn't stupid. Just never expect her to use it in the field. The idea of flashing her enemies into submission made her skin crawl.

"I am impressed that you have been able to master Henge to a degree that allows you to perform it with only a single hand seal."

Naruto deflated somewhat, disappointed by the fact that she was not as amused by the technique as he was, but still encouraged by by her mild praise.

"Please, continue the story," she said, not wanting to discuss the technique anymore.

Naruto nodded. "Okay. So I got the scroll and started to study it. A few hours later Iruka-sensei showed up and asked me what I was doing. I told him, then Mizuki-sensei showed up and-" Naruto trailed off. He bit his lip and looked uncomfortable for a moment. He continued, but by the tone of his voice, she had a feeling he was leaving something out. "Mizuki-sensei tried to kill us. Iruka-sensei got hurt protecting me, so I used the technique I learned from the scroll, Taijuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, and kicked Mizuki-sensei's butt." He smiled. "After that, Iruka-sensei told me to close my eyes, and when I opened them I was a genin, dattebayo!"

Haku blinked. "Hold on, you're telling me you learned the kinjutsu version of an advanced level jutsu in only a couple of hours?"

"Yeah. Pretty cool, right?"

"And they call you a dobe?"

He nodded.

"Fools."

Naruto beamed. "Thanks Haku!"

She frowned and looked over at the boy. "Naruto, what did this Mizuki teach?"

"Taijutsu mostly, why?"

She couldn't help but facepalm. "That explains a great deal."

Naruto blinked in confusion. "What?"

"Please, do not take this the wrong way, but your taijutsu..." She paused for a moment trying to think of a diplomatic way to put this. "...Is in need of serious refinement."

Naruto grimaced for a moment opened his mouth to retaliate, but after a moment snapped it shut and looked at Haku in annoyance before saying, "What do you mean? I thought I was pretty good. Mizuki-sensei always complimented me on my skills!"

"This being same Mizuki-sensei who tried to kill you, correct?"

Naruto blinked, blushed, and scratched the back of his head with a laugh, "Well, when you say it like that, I guess I see your point."

She nodded with a grim look on her face. "I believe he sabotaged your efforts by encouraging you to use poor technique."

Naruto blinked. "But thats where I got all my best grades and Mizuki-sensei wasn't the only testing us in taijutsu!"

Haku nodded. "I believe that is due to your own natural aptitude. I have seen you fight, and you are strong and fast, with impressive stamina and an unpredictable fighting style. Your own innate ability makes you a dangerous opponent. The problem is that your fundamentals appear to be flawed, and this lowers your effectiveness greatly. As much as it pains me to say this; I'm going to have to teach you the basics of taijutsu."

Naruto frowned. "Why does it pain you to say that? I thought you wanted to teach me!"

"I do," she replied, "It is just that I'm a ninjutsu specialist. I have little talent for taijutsu, and while I know the forms well enough, I find little pleasure in it."

"Oh." He blinked. "So how about you teach me a cool Jutsu?"

She sighed, "Naruto..."

"Please?"

She paused for a moment of thought then nodded. Alright, fine. If he needed the basics, she's start with absolute the basics. "Very well, I will show you a technique, but afterwards I'm going to teach you water walking and you will not complain. Understood?"

"I got ya, Haku-chan!" he exclaimed, almost hopping in place with excitement, "So what are you going to teach me?"

"I will teach you a basic technique taught to all Kiri-nin. It is technically a water release technique, but it is simple enough that it can be performed using only the most elementary understanding of elemental nature. You've seen this technique before. It is a technique that Zabuza-san used against your sensei: the Kirigakure no Jutsu."

"Awesome!" Naruto grinned. "If it can work against Kakashi-sensei's sharingan, then it'll sure work against that bastard Sasuke's!"

"Unfortunately, I am unable to demonstrate it for you." Haku blushed. "I'm still low on chakra, and showing you the Mizurappa was somewhat reckless on my part."

Naruto shrugged. "It's alright. I've already seen it done."

"Good, I just didn't want you to be disappointed. I will show you the hand seals and tell you what to do. Alright?"

Naruto grinned. "Yeah!"

Haku took a deep breath and began. "The basic seals are Ox, Hair, Ram. It works by using your charka to increase the local humidity by drawing out the surrounding water and changing the localized temperature gradient by rapidly cooling in order to create a thick blinding fog. Do you understand?"

Naruto paused for a moment and nodded. "So I do those hand sighs, draw out some water and cool down the air to make it fog up?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"Alright! This'll be easy, dattebayo!" With a manic grin on his face Naruto formed the hand signs. "Kirigakure no Jutsu!"

Haku blink in surprise as the entire world went completely white. She'd seen some pretty thick mists created before. It had been Zabuza's favorite technique and her duel elemental nature strengthened both the water gathering and atmospheric cooling aspects of the jutsu, but this was just ridiculous. She could barely see her hands in front of her face.

"Naruto?" She called out, stepping forward in the direction that he'd been in. "Are you still there?"

"Yeah, Haku-chan," He replied. "I think I used too much chakra."

"Naruto-kun, are you still maintaining the technique?"

"Yeah, I think so."

Haku sighed and shook her head."Stop. It should dissipate momentarily.."

"Oh." Naruto replied. "Okay."

She sighed and crossed her arms, waiting for it to fade. "Naruto-kun, we really need to work on your control."

"Um, I guess so."

"Huh..." Haku thought to herself for a moment. Naruto was overpowering that technique immensely. When she'd begun training as a ninja her above average reserves made training difficult until she'd mastered basic chakra control techniques. Considering Naruto's sheer volume of power that could have been the reason for some of his problems.

"Naruto, when the mist fades, I want you to make a clone for me."

"Right, one Kage Bunshin coming right up!"

"No," she replied, "I want you to create a normal clone."

"Oh, man!" Naruto whined. "I suck at that technique."

Haku raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't that be reason enough for you to improve it?"

"But I already know how to make Shadow Clones!" Naruto said, "Why do I need stupid, regular clones?"

Haku thought for a moment. "Regular clones are insubstantial. Being hit won't destroy them."

"Yeah, but they can't actually do anything."

"They'd draw attention off of your shadow clones. If you had a few Bunshin to serve as decoys for every Kage Bunshin then the enemy would have a much harder time destroying them. Besides, if seeing hundreds of you is intimidating, what would thousands be like?"

Naruto blinked and then smiled savagely "I never thought of it that way!" he paused before adding, "I still hate that technique though."

Haku smiled. She had a feeling she could motivate him. "Let's make a deal. If you can create a single perfect clone, I'll teach you a very special jutsu, one that is very useful but requires a great deal of control to use."

"Oh? What technique?"

Haku smiled. Hook. Line.

"Shunshin no Jutsu."

"Cool!" Naruto exclaimed. "I'll master it in no time, dattebayo!"

Haku grinned like a Hoshigaki. Sinker.

"So, Haku?"

"Yes, Naruto?"

"Do you have um, any tips for me?"

She paused for a moment and bit her lip. "Naruto, my instinct is that you're overpowering the technique. Just try and make as many clones as possible using as little chakra as you can and work your way down from there."

"Oh." He paused. "Haku-chan?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun?"

"Shouldn't the mist have cleared up by now?"

She frowned. Yes. It should have. It normally cleared up in just a couple of minutes if that, and even now she was barely able to make him out through the fog, which was pretty incredible considering he was less than ten feet away from her. "Exactly how much charka did you use?"

"Er, I don't know. I just put in as much as I could?"

Haku opened her mouth to reply but was cut off from a cry from the distance.

"Naruto-kun? Haku-san?" It was Sakura. "Are you out here? Hello?"

"Oi! Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed. "We're right here!"

"Right where?" she asked, "This blinding fog is covering most of the town! What happened? Where is everyone?"

Haku winced. Oh yeah. She was going to get him started on water walking as soon as possible. She'd heard of chakra control issues, but this was just ridiculous.


	4. Chapter 4

"So, where are we going?" Naruto asked Haku as the two entered town.

Haku smiled sadly at him. It almost made him wince. It was strange, her sad smile stung worse than the cold eyes of the villagers. She was one of the few people who'd ever truly opened her entire heart to him, and because of that he counted her among his most beloved friends. The idea of her being sad just made him feel like he'd failed on a personal level. He wanted her to be happy all the time because he believed she deserved nothing less.

"I have to put Zabuza-san's affairs in order," she replied in a low tone that made Naruto's heart twist.

She'd just lost the closest thing she had to a father and now she had to trouble herself by going through all the mess of burying him. He couldn't really understand that pain. He'd almost lost Iruka and thought he'd lost Sasuke, but as important as they were to him, he knew that Zabuza had been Haku's world. He just couldn't understand the magnitude of her loss, but that didn't mean he couldn't sympathize with her unspoken plight. He could see it in her sad eyes how much this hurt her and it shamed him that he'd been involved in Zabuza's death. Haku was far too good a person to go through this, and to have raised someone as kind as her, there had to be more to Zabuza than the Demon of the Mist. No monster could raise such a kind soul.

Taking a moment to center himself Naruto decided what he was going to do. He was going to help Haku in any way he could. For her sake he'd make sure that Zabuza wouldn't be forgotten, and that he'd be remembered for the good person he really was. He'd do it for her sake.

Before he'd promised that he'd keep her safe, but he knew damned well that you could be safe and miserable. She was his friend, and he'd protect not only her life, but her happiness. To do anything less would be paramount to abandoning her, and those who abandon their friends were worse than trash. He'd never abandon his friends. He silently swore that he'd not only keep them safe, but that he could not and would not allow them to suffer the way he'd suffered in the past. As long as he lived, he would not allow them to be treated as if they were worthless, unwanted, unworthy, or forgotten. He'd shield them from the hell of loneliness with his very life if he had to.

That was the promises of a lifetime!

"Naruto-kun?" Haku asked, looking at him, somewhat worried. "What's wrong?"

Naruto blushed slightly. He must have drifted off there for a moment. "Nothing, Haku-chan. I was just a little distracted." He allowed his face to twist into a small, thoughtful smile, "Was thinking, that's all."

Haku nodded in understanding. He said nothing. The silence between them was almost palpable. Naruto was unsure what to say and he had a feeling that the same was true for Haku.

It was rather awkward and felt really uncomfortable. Naruto hated pauses like this. He hated silence, really. If he spent any real time thinking about it he'd probably admit it was why he talked so damned much. People think too much when they're quiet, and for someone with as many hidden doubts and resentments as him, the last thing he could afford to do emotionally was dwell on all of the failures and derogatory words of the past. To be completely honest, it was downright smothering.

"So, Haku-chan?" he said, looking for something, anything to break the silence, "What are we doing first?"

Haku's face fell, making Naruto want to kick himself. Hell, he was tempted to summon a Shadow Clone to do just that! If she looked sad before, now she looked completely miserable. "I am going to the local constabulary," she said softly. "I am going to inquire as to the condition of Zabuza-san's body and collect his personal possessions."

Naruto winced. No wonder she was so damned sad. She was only trying to check on the body of her dead father. Nothing upsetting there. Nope, nothing at all!

Almost unconsciously, Naruto's hand snaked out and grasped Haku's. The girl looked at him with a moment in surprise then smiled and squeezed tightly. He could see her tension relax slightly as a small smile came to her face. He couldn't help but smile at the fact that his simple presence seemed to be comforting her. That was good. He wouldn't let his friend be alone at a time like this. If she needed a human safety blanket, he was happy to provide.

"Lets go, Haku-chan," he said giving her hand a reassuring squeeze, "You're not going to be doing this alone."

She nodded and together the two began into the village. The village itself was still winding back up after the unexpected lull caused by Naruto's overpowered Hidden Mist Technique. In fact there was still a thin fog overhanging the town, though Naruto wasn't quite sure of how much of that was him and how much was just the island nations normal morning weather. From what he'd seen so far, the region was normally pretty warm, but it still got a little foggy before noon.

Most noticeable though was the people. They seemed different. Gone was the shrunken posture, the almost palpable aura of hopelessness. They were standing taller and walking with pride. They were no longer looking down in shame and self-loathing, but instead wherever he passed their eyes seemed to be following him. It made him feel uncomfortable. He was used to the cold eyes of the villagers following him wherever he went, but these eyes he realized, were different. They were not full of contempt and disgust. These eyes were warm and inviting, full of admiration. These eyes light up the moment he crossed their path.

His eyes went wide and he paused in his step, drawing an inquisitive glance from Haku as realization seeped into his mind. They were looking at him the same way the people of Konoha looked at the Hokage. It made him wonder, it made him question, and he had to ask it of himself otherwise he would not be able to believe his eyes.

Was this the way people looked at a hero?

"Are you alright, Naruto-kun?" Haku asked him with worry in her voice.

Still stunned, Naruto couldn't find his voice to respond. He slowly nodded, and after a moment managed to say, "I'm fine." His voice was small, and difficult to hear, but he meant it. He really meant it. Maybe even for the first time.

Haku smiled and looked about for a moment, then with a slight blush on her face looked back down to him. "Naruto-kun?"

"Yes, Haku-chan?" he replied as his voice returned to him in strength.

"Do you know where the constabulary is located?"

Naruto blinked. That was an honest surprise. He'd expect a ninja like Haku, who'd had plenty of time to scout out the town to know where it was. "Nope. I'm surprised that you don't."

"Zabuza-san felt that it wasn't important." Haku shrugged. "When we arrived they were effectively defunct."

Naruto nodded. Constables were volunteer civil law enforcement, nothing like Konoha's ANBU, or the defunct Military Police. Until Gato died, he guessed that they'd all had other things to worry about, like feeding their kids or not getting stabbed by his thugs.

"Lets ask somebody then!" Naruto said with a smile. Pulling her behind him he walked over to an old woman who was busily selling fish at the side of the street. He guessed an old woman like her would probably know the area very well.

As he approached the stand the various shoppers stepped to the side and bowed to him in deference, much to his confusion. He was used to people getting out of his way of course, but normally it was because they couldn't stand his presence, but these people, they seemed to be doing the same out of respect. As if they felt that whatever he could be doing was naturally more important than what they were doing. It was absolutely disconcerting.

Standing behind the counter of the cart was an old woman, one probably about the Hokage's age, which in Naruto's mindset meant she was probably old enough to have met the Sage of the Six paths in her youth. Not that he'd say that, but the lines around her face looked like they belonged to someone who liked to smile, so he was pretty sure she'd be helpful.

"Uzumaki-sama!" the old woman gasped slightly and bowed deeply to him that he actually feared somewhat for the integrity of her old bones. "How may I be of assistance?"

He was almost stunned into silence. "You know my name?" he all but whispered. "How?"

The woman smiled radiantly and for a moment he could see the faded beauty of her youth in her joyful face as she looked on him with something bordering on awe. "How could I not?"

Naruto opened his mouth to respond but couldn't. He just choked.

He was confused. He knew how the people treated the Hokage, and this wasn't it. The Hokage was respected, loved even, but this wasn't simple respect. For some reason, these people were in awe of him, and he didn't know why. He'd done his best to help him but this... this was just overwhelming. If the sincerity wasn't so thick that he could taste it, he'd almost think it was creepy.

The fact that they were milling around to watch also made him uncomfortable. But he wasn't going to complain. These people didn't see him for the demon fox in his belly, for the unfortunate circumstances of his birth. They saw him for his own actions. He had the suspicion there might be something else to it, but for them to respect him this much, he had to have proved himself to them. They had to see him for him, and not only judge him to be worthy of respect; but judge him to be someone worth admiring. The acknowledged him. They looked up to him. To him! He couldn't believe it. It was just too good to be true, but it was. It really was.

For the first time in his life, Naruto knew not only what it was like to be truly accepted, but to be truly loved by others. Not just by one person, but by everyone. He had to fight back tears as this realization hit him almost as hard as Iruka's deceleration in the forest while he fought Mizuki.

Naruto clenched his fist and smiled widely and honestly, probably more so than he'd done on any occasion before or after he'd been made a genin. A few rebellious tears made their way down his cheek and as he looked at the old woman he was shocked to see that her eyes were also watering with unshed tears.

The shock was enough to knock him out of his stopper and he felt filled with a strength and pride he never before felt before. He felt ten feet tall, like he couldn't be stopped. For the first time in his life, he felt no hidden doubts. It was like their faith in him was infectious. It was like their belief in him was so strong that it burned away his own uncertainty.

"Hey, Baa-chan?" he asked, feeling like he was truly standing tall for the first time in his life, "Which way to the constable's office?"

The woman's eyebrow peaked slightly but if she was thinking anything, she didn't say it. "Its two streets down, right off to the left. Look for the building with the red roof."

"Thanks!" he exclaimed.

The woman stood thoughtfully for a moment, then asked, "May I be so bold as to ask why you're going there, Uzumaki-sama?"

Naruto fought back a frown for a moment. He knew old grandma's like this loved their gossip, and from the way the crowd was milling around, he knew they were all wondering what he was up to. He knew how much they like to rag on him back home and how far even the slightest insult could travel, getting more and more blown out of proportion every time it was retold, but it did give him an idea. He beat down a mischievous grin as his old pranking instincts came to head. Even though he'd never said it aloud, he'd promised Haku that he'd make sure Zabuza wouldn't be forgotten, and this was his chance.

"We're going to see about getting Zabuza a proper burial," he replied.

"Why would you bother yourself with one of Gato's underlings?" Haku's grip tightened to almost painful levels and he could feel her killing intent leaking out as the old woman looked on in confusion. "He was an evil man."

"He wasn't!" Naruto replied. "He died a hero."

"He did?" the old woman asked as the crowd muttered around him.

Inside his mind, Naruto cackled gleefully. Now he had their attention. "Zabuza was set up! Yeah, I know he was working for a bad guy, but that wasn't because he was evil! Part of being a ninja is to kill your heart and do your job no matter how distasteful. Gato lied to him and used it against him! He hired him to do his dirty work but was going to kill him when he was done. Even though he was my enemy, I respected him because he was a strong ninja! After all, no jerk could raise someone as nice as Haku-chan!"

That brought all eyes to Haku and she tensed up under the harsh attention of the crowd. He felt guilty about putting her through it, but it was only for a moment.

"How does that make him a hero?" the woman asked in a confused tone.

"Well, it's all got to do with Haku-chan. After Kakashi-sensei wounded him, he confessed that he loved her like a daughter and wanted her to be strong and happy," he replied. "Then Gato showed up and said that Zabuza was a worthless pawn and how this was all just a setup so we'd bump each other off. So Haku-chan killed him with a single really awesome blow and avenged him! If it wasn't for Zabuza hadn't been a good guy, then she wouldn't have been able to kill Gato, and if she didn't do that then his thugs wouldn't have been leaderless, and I wouldn't have had the strength to kick all their asses! If I'm a hero for beating them, then Haku's a hero for killing Gato, and if Haku's as hero for that, than Zabuza's a hero for inspiring her strength, Dattebayo!"

"Dattebayo," the old woman repeated with an wistful smile, muttering something under her breath, before glancing to Haku. Her face hardened, and she frowned for a moment before nodding in understanding. "I see."

After a moment of thought, her frown faded to an impassive glance, and after taking the girl in for a moment, a warm smile came to her face. "I apologize for my harsh words, Haku-sama. I would like to apologize for my ignorance and express my sympathy for your loss. There is not a person in his country who has not lost a loved one to the betrayal and cruelty of others, and I believe that it is only fitting that he was punished by one who has suffered as we have. Thank you very much." And with that she bowed deeply to Haku. Not nearly as deeply as she'd bowed him him, but still deep enough to convey great respect.

And then, the crowd joined in. First they bowed in thanks, and then they started to speak

"Thank you, Haku-san!" exclaimed one man.

"Zabuza was a hero!" came another

And then another, and another. Comments flew in from the viewing throng, were either consoling her loss, or exalting her heroism, and while the looks they were giving her were not as, well, reverent as the ones they gave him, the coldness had been replaced with the warmth and respect that was a heroes due.

Naruto looked up to Haku. He could see the confusion on her face and felt the tension in her grip. She was obviously almost as bewildered as he'd been moments before. After a pregnant pause, she bowed to the older woman. "I thank you for your kind words."

Taking a deep breath she bowed to the old woman and to the crowd, and started in the direction of the constabulary. She walked quickly, passing through the crowd, and all but dragging him behind her. After a few moments, once they were clear of the crowd and as the people began to go about their business, she turned about and glared at Naruto, pulling her hand away from his.

"What were you doing?" she demanded. Her voice was tense, filled with confusion and a bit of anger at the perceived betrayal. "Not only have you endangered my life by airing my secrets for all to hear, but you paraded my loss before these civilians. Why?"

Naruto smiled widely at her. It hurt to have someone he liked look at him like that, but he understood why and he was sure she'd forgive once he explained it. "Now Zabuza won't be forgotten, or remembered as a bad guy. Now he'll be remembered as a hero who gave his life to beat Gato! And you'll be remembered as a hero too, dattebayo!"

"But when the oinin hear about this..."

"You'll be half-way to Konoha, escorted by a friendly shinobi team, in the middle of Fire Country." Naruto grinned, "I don't think they're gonna risk it."

Haku blinked as her jaw went agape. She laughed shallowly and closed her eyes, smiling and shaking her head. Opening them she looked at Naruto and pulled him into a tight hug. He flushed crimson as she held him so close to her body for so long. Really, it was all he could do not to get excited. He had to struggle to keep the fact that he was being squeezed like a plushy by a hot, older kunoichi who he'd seen naked out of his mind. Last thing he wanted was to get slugged as a pervert because some parts of his body wouldn't obey his brain!

"Thank you," she whispered. Pulling away, his new 'Precious Person' smiled at him with the same radiance he'd already learned to treasure. "I am sorry that I was upset at you, Naruto-kun. Now I understand why you did it. That was a very kind thing. Not many people would try and honor the memory of an enemy like that. Thank you."

"Hey, if he was able to raise someone like you, he couldn't be all bad!" Naruto grinned.

Haku smiled sadly. "He was a very complicated man, Naruto-kun."

Naruto smiled warmly at her. "You have to tell me about him some time."

"I will," she replied softy. "Thank you, Naruto-kun. Thank you for being so kind."

Naruto blushed and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "You're welcome, Haku-chan!"

- 4 -

Tsunami took a deep breath as she entered her living room, which at this point had been taken over by that perverted freeloader Kakashi. She had some questions for him, and while she was well aware that she wouldn't be able to get a ninja to tell her he didn't feel like it, they were directly involved with someone dear to the both of them.

"Kakashi-san...," she began as she stepped into the room, only to trail off as she noticed two things that threw her off her train of thought. One which made her blood freeze, the other which made it boil.

First, her darling son was playing with a ninja dagger as if it were some kind of toy, darting about swinging it around as if he were some powerful ninja fighting invisible opponents.

Second, Kakashi himself was reading one of those perverted orange books she didn't let her father read in her son's presence.

Once again, and probably not for the last time today, she wished she was somehow able to kill the jonin with her brain.

"Hm, a bit tense today, Tsunami-san?" Kakashi observed, "I have to admit, I'm impressed by your killing intent. You missed your calling. So, what's the problem?"

"Why is my son playing with a weapon..."

"Ninja are awesome, mom!" Inari exclaimed, all but bouncing in place, and interrupting the conversation, "Naruto-niichan kicked the butts out of all of those goons on the bridge! I wanna be strong like that too!"

Tsunami felt another chill go down her spine. Seeing Kaiza die had been bad enough, but for him to see the carnage of Naruto's bridge battle. She didn't want him to be traumatized by the battle, but even worse for him to becoming interested in the Shinobi arts. Naruto was a good boy, but he was a killer, and as much as she loved him, she did not want that for her son. The idea of her darling little boy becoming a ninja downright terrified her.

"Inari, why don't you... put away the knife and go play outside for a little while..."

Inari pouted, "Do I have to?"

She simply gave him a stern look that said everything that needed to be said.

"Alright," he whined before perking back up with a smile. "Naruto-niichan said he'd play ninja with me after he got back from town!"

As quickly as he spoke, Inari ran into his room to put the weapon away and then ran outside. She fought the urge to shudder as her he ran past. As far as she was concerned, no good could come of this. She'd have to slip into his room and remove the weapon before he came back in.

With Inari out from underfoot, she was able to turn her attention back to the second issue that had earned her ire.

"Kakashi-san, why are you reading pornography in my living room?"

"Because I'm not in the guest room?" he replied in a rhetorical tone.

Tsunami sighed. "And if I asked you not to read it you would ignore me, wouldn't you."

He nodded. "A-yep."

She frowned "Kakashi-san, may I ask why you are being so rude to me and my family?"

Kakashi looked up and closed his book. "Tsunami-san," he said calmly, "As far as I am concerned I have been acting well beyond the rules of hospitality considered the situation. Remember, your father falsely filed a mission, and in doing so lured my cute little genin, who mind you were on their first mission outside the village, into a situation which forced them to fight several extremely dangerous missing nin. This lead to one of them almost dying and another being first poisoned, and then forced to kill over thirty men in hand to hand combat. As commander of Genin Team 7, I had every right to leave you, your family, and your country to whatever fate Gato would have seen fit. But I didn't. I'm here. You're safe. He's dead. You're not. As far as I am concerned, I've earned a bit of leeway, wouldn't you say?"

Tsunami stood in place for a moment. There was a very real part of her that wanted to hit him with something large, heavy, and blunt. Sadly though, as much as she wished otherwise, she couldn't fault his logic. Her father had lied and in doing so endangered the lives of the man's students. It was understandable to her why he'd be a bit feckless in his social niceties, all things considered. In his place she'd be absolutely seething.

She sighed. He was right. Despite her father's foolishness, he still came. Her family had disrespected these ninja greatly and exposed three inexperienced children to a great, unexpected risk, but they still stood by their honor and they fought and bled and killed for the sake of her family and her people.

The simple fact was that the debt of honor owed to these ninja by her family far out weighed the petty discourtesy that she was being forced to endure. As much as it galled her, she was actually feeling ashamed for bringing this up. She must have seemed very selfish to him to forget this.

"I apologize for my impetuousness, Kakashi-san," she said, slipping into the most polite form of speech she was able, "I understand that I owe much to you and your students and all I ask is that you mind my attempts to run a pacific and comfortable household for my family."

The ninja smiled. "Of course, Tsunami-chan."

She bristled slightly at his overly familiar language, but said nothing. After all, the debt she owed was so great that it was her place to endure such mild irreverence. But even so, here was one thing that was even beyond that debt of honor: her fears for her son.

"Kakashi-san," she said, her own fears coming to the forefront. "Please do not give Inari ideas of becoming a shinobi. Besides my father he is all that I have, any if anything happened to him..."

Kakashi peeked his eyebrow. "Is that what this is about?" He laughed. "Don't worry, I don't have any plans to sneak off with your kid and turn him into some emotionless killing machine."

Tsunami blinked in confusion. "But the dagger..."

"Was given to him by Naruto," Kakashi said smoothly, "He's taken a shine to the kid and gave him a kunai so they could play ninja."

She bristled slightly. "Naruto gave my son a weapon?"

"It's a practice kunai, it's blunted for training," he continued. "Do understand that this is the first time Naruto's ever been outside the hidden village. Remember, Konohagakure is a ninja village. Every child is expected to attend the academy and it has shaped our culture. To Naruto, Inari not having a training kunai to play ninja with was as conceptually alien as little girl not owning a doll."

Tsunami blinked. She never realized that the culture of the ninja villages was so different than that of the outside world. While she was still extremely uncomfortable with Inari owning a ninja weapon, even if it was a blunted play weapon, she didn't feel entirely comfortable taking away a gift that Naruto had given him in good faith. She guessed that she would have to pray and hope he tired of it soon, and then once he did, carefully misplace it somewhere out of the way as not to encourage the idea any farther.

Still though, this did remind of of what she originally wished to speak to the Jonin. "Kakashi-san," she began, "Speaking of Naruto-kun, I have some concerns."

Kakashi's attention became absolute. While she doubted she would ever be able to get an accurate read on a ninja of all people, she at least hopes that she was reading authentic concern in the man's features. "Yes?"

"Naruto-kun had shown some... distressing behavioral patterns. When I confronted him about the... ordeal with Haku-san last night he became extremely withdrawn. While it is not my place to speak of such things, I have grown fond of the boy and..."

"And you're concerned that he might have been neglected in some manner," Kakashi completed, somewhat shamefaced.

"Yes," she replied.

"Naruto is an orphan and was raised without the love and support of a proper family," Kakashi replied calmly, "In addition, many of the villagers hold an irrational dislike of the boy, and while they did him no physical harm, the did little to make him feel welcomed and in many cases encouraged like behavior in their children."

Tsunami gasped. That revelation was not one she expected and was not one she in any way welcomed. Naruto, while loud and boisterous, as a truly good person, and the idea of him not only being raised without the proper love and support of a family, but having people disliking him for no reason and going as far to ostracize him with their children... "That's horrible!" She exclaimed, because there was nothing else that she could say to articulate her feelings.

"I know," Kakashi replied, "But there was little that could be done to dissuade them. I do appreciate your concern though. Naruto has a precious few people who care about him. If you truly wish to help him, let him know you care."

Tsunami nodded and thought back to the blonde boy. That wonderful, kind, heroic, selfless boy that had protected her loved ones so furiously. The young man whose courage had brought hope and freedom to her country. He'd given her, he had given all of them, so much and never asked for anything. And after all that, it turns out that despite the amount of kindness he was willing to show others, he'd been denied it himself. Despite the love he was willing to share, he'd never known that of a mother.

She smiled.

She would show him the best that she could. It was the least she could do.

Kakashi smiled, reading the emotions on her face. Unlike most of the previous expressions of emotion she'd seen in the masked ninja, this seemed to be completely unguarded.

"Thank you"

She smiled before taking a deep breath to ask her final question. The one that was not just on her mind, but was on everyone else's minds as well.

"Is Naruto-kun truly an Uzuamki?"

- 4 - 4 -

Pakkun was not a happy pug. Kakashi told him to follow these two and he'd do it. Like it or not, he'd follow his orders, but he didn't have to like it. Honestly though, he'd rather be sleeping. In fact that is exactly what he'd been doing until he'd been summoned and set on this fool's errand. Follow them around, Kakashi had said to make sure she didn't do anything to endanger the boy or Konoha's interests.

Personally, he thought that was a load of bullshit. From the smell of them, the only thing in danger was the boy's virginity. While it might not have been at the front of their minds, they were definitely attracted to one another. He could smell their hormones from across the room. Not surprising when you consider how close they got the night before, at least from what Kakashi told him. He just hoped they didn't sneak off and do the old breeding dance while he was on their tail. He'd be obliged to observe and there were some things he just never wanted to see. Humans screwing might not be on the top of that list, but it was damned close.

Slowly he moved to follow as the pair entered the constabulary, deftly ducking into the shadows to remain out of view while making sure to stay within earshot. He had to be careful, from the sound of things the girl was extremely skilled, and he was under orders to avoid detection. Thankfully there were quite a few good hiding spots. Now admittedly, the view wasn't the best, but as a canine, his vision wasn't the best anyways so it didn't really matter.

"Hey! If it's not the big damned hero!" the man inside the building began once he laid eyes on the genin. "I'm Kenji. What can I do for you, Uzumaki-sama?"

"I don't need anything," he replied, "But Haku-chan... well..." He glanced over to the girl.

There was an awkward pause before the female replied. "I would..." she paused for a moment, trying to center herself, "I would like..." He paused, having difficulty putting her feelings to words. Made sense too, she was coming in here to see her old man's corpse. If that didn't put you in a pretty awkward state, nothing would.

The man frowned for a moment, "Wait a minute. You're that girl who killed Gato, right?"

The female blinked, and then nodded shallowly. "Yes, I am."

The male behind the counter grinned like a wolf-hound. "I have to give it to you, you did a mighty fine job, though a lot faster and cleaner than the son of a bitch deserved."

The girl blushed. "Thank you, but I do not take pleasure in the suffering of others," she paused for a moment then added, "No matter how greatly they may deserve it."

He nodded. "Yeah. Fair 'nough. Anyways, I heard you were that Zabuza guy's daughter, right?"

"Huh?" Naruto asked in confusion. "You heard about that already?"

"Yeah, one of the guys told me right before you got here," Kenji replied.

Naruto blinked in confusion. "Wow, rumors must travel pretty fast around here."

"Small town," he said in a flippant tone, before looking to Haku. "So, I don't want to seem insensitive, but I can really only think of one reason you'd be here. To see the body and collect his personal effects."

"Yes," Haku said in a sad voice, as she lowered her head. It made Pakkun feel a little down. He just knew that was going to be intruding on something very private, and for no good reason. Kakashi definitely owed him for this one. This kind of personal intrusion was worth at least two bones, and by that he didn't mean just any bones but those really tasty special smoked gourmet ones that the Inuzuka make. The really big ones.

"Alright. Where do you want to start? The body or his stuff," he paused for a moment before commenting, "The Jonin instructed us to keep the body from being disturbed." the constable paused. "But since you're family, I guess you have the final say. Besides, if you're just going to view it, then that's not really disturbing, I guess..."

"Thank you," she paused for a moment and asked. "Do you have Kubikiribocho?"

The man blinked. "You mean that giant Zanbato he was lugging around?"

"Yes."

"Yeah," Kenji replied, "Took three guys to carry it in. It's sitting in the back room."

He nodded. "I see."

Kenji frowned for a moment, "So, where do you want to start?"

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "The body please.

"Alright, but I have to warn you..." he sighed, "Listen kid, are you sure you want to do this now?"

Haku paused for a moment, "I... I understand and value your sympathy, Kenji-san, but I feel that I have to do this. When Zabuza-sama died..."

"It was too much to take in," Kenji replied distantly, "It was too much to take in, too much to absorb. I didn't seem entirely real because the sheer magnitude of it was so great that you had problems wrapping your head around it all."

"You understand," Haku stated.

"Listen kid, I don't think you'd find a person in his village over thirty-five who doesn't know exactly what you're talking about. I just had to give you fair warning."

"Thank you, Kenji-san. Your sympathy is appreciated."

Kenji nodded. "Alright, I'll take you back"

Pakkun frowned as the two were lead into the depths of the building and scampered forward trying to keep silent and out of sight while at the same time staying close enough to hear them. Thus he was none too happy when they ended at a large freezer door. Great, they were keeping the body in an over glorified meat locker. That meant the only way he could hear them was to get inside with them. Wonderful. Just wonderful.

Slowly he watched as the constable opened the door and glanced inside. "Zabuza's is the only body left," he chucked grimly and added, "Between you and Uzumaki-sama here, we had quite the collection yesterday."

Naruto blinked. "What did you do with Gato's guys?"

"We hang pirates around here, and those ese fuckers were close enough. They all dangling from the pier," he paused, "Well, except for Gato. We crucified his ass, just like he did to Kaiza-san."

Naruto blanched, so did Haku for that matter.

"Well, right. You kids can stay back here for as long as you need. You can leave any time you want."

"Thank you, Kenji-san," Haku replied.

"Hey, anything for Uzumaki-sama and the girl who put that son-of-a-bitch down," he chuckled.

The kunoichi smiled slightly and took a deep breath and entered behind Naruto as Kenji opened the door for them. Taking this as his only opportunity, Pakkun slipped in behind them before the door could be closed, hoping that he wasn't seen. He quickly took cover behind a large shelf sitting by the entrance.

He winced slightly as he heard a muffled "Was that a dog? Nah. Must be seeing things" behind him as the door shut.

Pakkun felt a chill go down his spine. Damn, that was too close!

Inside the room was basically a meat locker with wooden tables lined up against the wall. There were fresh red stains, probably still wet in places, covering the floors and tables. Off to the side there was a mountainous pile of bloody sheets lying to the side, and to his sensitive nose, the stench of death was almost overwhelming. On one of the side tables there remained a single, still covered corpse still undisturbed.

Gee, guess who that could be?

Haku tensed and Naruto held her hand and looked at her with concern as the two approached the body.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Naruto asked her, his worry apparent.

"I have to do this," she replied as she reached for the top of the sheet with a trembling hand.

Taking a deep breath, Haku pulled the sheet down and choked back a scream, almost losing her footing as he legs almost gave out underneath her. With tears trailing down her face, she clutched onto Naruto for support. Together they stood for what felt like an inordinate amount of time as the girl vented her bottled up emotions, weeping over the corpse of her dead mentor.

Unable to put up with it any longer, Pakkun sighed deeply and looked away. Oh yeah, Kakashi definitely owed him those bones. While they were ninja, there was still such a thing as simple good taste. The poor girl didn't need him intruding on her grief. There was absolutely nothing to benefit from watching this. Shaking his head in annoyance, he almost missed what the girl said next.

"Naruto-kun?" Haku asked, "I would like some time alone please."

"Alright, Haku-chan. Are you sure you'll be alright."

"I'll be fine."

Naruto nodded and Pakkun watched him walk out and close the door behind him. Then, he felt a sudden chill. It wasn't the kind of chill that runs down your back when something bad's about to happen, no. It was a general drop of the ambient temperature by several degrees. Which of course caused just that kind of chill to run down his back as slowly, and reluctantly, turned around to look dead into the eyes of one extremely irate looking kunoichi.

"Uh-oh."

Haku didn't even waste words replying to him. She simply reached down and lifted him by the scruff of the neck and brought him to eye level. Silently, Pakkun cursed his own instincts and his body reflexively went limp under the human's grip. He knew he could fight it, but he had a feeling that would simply result in him getting an icicle rammed somewhere all kinds of sensitive.

"You're one of Kakashi's ninken," she stated, not asked. "I remember you from the bridge."

Pakkun tensed, and realized that she really was her father's daughter, as her killer intent added a palpable sense of dread to the already thick tension that hung in the atmosphere. He really hoped she wasn't going to take some of her frustration out on him. After all, he'd helped hold Zabuza in place when Kakashi killed him, so he was technically an accessory to his death.

"Um, yeah." He winced. Oh, great response.

"Why are you following me?" She said coolly as the temperature of the room began to drop even further, causing their breathing to become visible.

Oh forget this shit. He wasn't going to deal with scary ice chick any more than he had to. "I was told to keep an eye on Naruto and stay out of sight."

She frowned. "Do you really believe I am that naive?" she asked with faux sweetness. "I want you to remind Kakashi-san that I am not a prisoner to be tracked. You can tell him that I will not act against Konoha's interest, but I do not appreciate being spied on," She dropped him and glared "As for you, if I catch you following me again, I'll start investigating a good recipe for bosintang. Am I clear?"

Pakkun gulped. Right now she smelled like frozen death and he had a feeling she really wasn't kidding. Okay, you know what? Screw Kakashi. He wasn't going to end up in a pot of soup! He simply gave her a quick nodded and banished himself, vanishing in a poof of ninja smoke. There simply weren't enough bones in the world for this shit.

- 4 - 4 - 4 -

Haku frowned as she walked beside Naruto. She'd thought she'd been ready to see Zabuza's body but she'd been wrong. Seeing him had only reopened a still bleeding wound. Shinobi were supposed to be masters of their emotions, but she'd been unable to contain her sorrow. She'd lost her control. And while she believed she knew Naruto enough to know that he would not think any less of her for doing so, having that blasted canine intrude on what should have been an intensely private moment was not only humiliating but made light of her loss. She could bare the embarrassment, but the disrespect given to her master's memory was unforgivable.

Still, while angry, the fact that he'd seen fit not to claim Zabuza's head nor the Kubikiribocho, did much to reduce her feeling from a seething rage to a nagging aggravation. She knew for a fact that the bounty on Zabuza's head was substantial, rivaling that of Old Maid Terumi and eclipsed only by the price on the Kirigakure no Kaijin. The Kubikiribocho was, on the other hand, was rightfully called a legendary weapon with an equally legendary bounty. The fact that he'd hadn't claimed it in the name of his village put her at ease. So do did the fact that the storage scroll Zabuza used to carry it around when he was not in battle also survived. The weapon weighed more than an adult man and carrying it around was a chore on a good day. In her current chakra deprived state she probably wouldn't have even been able to lift the damned thing.

Taking a deep breath, and running her fingers over the scroll tucked into the obi of her borrowed yukata for comfort. Zabuza had always claimed that without Kubikiribocho he wouldn't have been the same man. It made him who he was, it was part of him, and thus by carrying it, she kept a piece of her old master with her.

As they walked, she looked over to Naruto who smiled at her. She gave him a weak smile in return. While having something to remember someone by could help grant closer, it was no replacement for the presence of good company, and Naruto was very good company. He was a kind person who knew true strength, and while their oaths to aid one another had been made in a moment of foolish drunkenness, she didn't regret it.

Any of it, actually. She'd never been that close to a boy and while he was a bit young, she couldn't help but turn red, she got goose bumps thinking about the things they'd done in that bath. She was glad that his sensei had stopped them before things became... inappropriate. As she'd spent her entire life hiding as a boy, she'd never had an opportunity to learn the contraception Jutsu. Having to ask Naruto's pink haired teammate to teach her the technique would have been a mortifying crescendo to what was already an orchestra of embarrassment.

She suppressed a shiver. Of course, things could always get worse. If the pinkette didn't know it, then the sheer humiliation of having to ask Kakashi would have probably left her contemplating seppuku.

"You alright, Haku?" Naruto frowned, as a worried look crossed his face. "You're looking a little red. You have a fever or something?"

She couldn't help but flush even brighter as it was brought to her attention.

"Ah, Haku, I think it's getting worse," he said with a grimace, "Maybe we should get you to a doctor..."

"No...!" She sighed, "I mean, to say I'm just thinking. That's all."

He looked to her. "You sure?"

Again, she sighed, "Yes, I'm sure."

Naruto blinked. "Oh." He paused for a moment then looked back to her. "You think we could get something to eat? I'm getting kinda hungry."

Haku paused for a moment. Considering they'd eaten only a couple hours ago, it said a lot about his metabolism that he was already hungry. Not that she wasn't feeling much the same as nothing boosted the bodies calorie consumption like trying to refill ones chakra supply. Between the Chakra Fatigue and the cute little little sushi stand they'd walked past about ten minutes back, she felt down right ravenous.

Sadly though, first things first. "Maybe a little later, Naruto. There's something I need to do first. Maybe then we can pick up some sushi."

"Sushi? Isn't that just raw fish?" Naruto grimaced. "Gross! Can't get something good instead? Like Ramen?"

Haku's eyes narrowed to slits and her jaw clenched and she slowed to a halt. "What was that, Naruto-kun?" she all but hissed, giving him a very dirty look.

Naruto winced slightly at her cold, angry look. If she was feeling any more sympathetic this particular moment in time, she'd have felt very guilty at giving him the same kind of look that had haunted both of their childhoods, but right now, the honor of her favorite food was at stake!

This was ground that around which even Zabuza had known to tread lightly.

"Um, I mean... all the sushi I've had was pretty gross but Konoha's pretty far from the sea so the fish might not be very fresh and..."

"So you're saying you've never had good sushi," she replied, calling down her glare from cold anger to simply righteous irritation.

He blushed, "Well, kinda. Lets just say me and fresh meat never had a really good relationship and leave it at that."

Haku blinked, wondering what he meant by that. Though she had a feeling that the implications were unpleasant.

"Are you telling me you've never had sushi?" she asked with not a small amount of intensity in her eyes.

"No... I mean yes... I mean...," he blushed, and rubbed the back of his head, "I haven't."

She was taken aback, almost as if she were struck. He never had sushi? "Well, then I know what we're doing for lunch! That's for sure!"

"Come on Haku-chan, can't we get Ramen instead?" Naruto whined.

Haku glanced over, first fighting the urge to glare. Then as she thought, for a moment, fighting the urge smirk. Oh, she had the perfect answer in mind.

"Ugh," she grimaced, "Ramen's far too salty! I can't understand how people can eat that stuff."

"HEY!"


	5. Chapter 5

Now this was what being a ninja was about, Naruto thought to himself. When Haku had said she was going to Zabuza's hidden base next, to look for supplies and equipment, he'd felt a bit excited. It wasn't every day you got to a chance to find a secret base ninja base and rifle through the drawers. Now he knew that all he was really doing was help Haku gather stuff that by all rights was her property considering Zabuza had pretty much said she got everything, but that was boring. In all honesty he preferred to pretend at least to himself that he was on some super secret ninja mission. It was more fun that way.

Not that he'd say that to Haku. He didn't want to make it look like he was belittling her loss or anything, but as a child he'd been forced to learn methods to throw a happy face on even the most depressing circumstances. It was a hard earned skill that had all but saved his sanity. The hatred of the villagers became simply another challenge, a test on the path to becoming Hokage. The scorn of his classmates he explained to himself as them being jealous because he was so damned cool. The teachers not bothering to give him any time? That was okay, its not like those idiots had much to show him anyways. Even Sakura's loud, constant, and violent rejection was due to... well... those dirty novels said girls played hard to get, right?

It had reached the point that it wasn't even self-justification anymore, it had become an automatic defense mechanism to which he was only vaguely aware of and it was something that he really didn't like to think about. After all, what was the point of tricking yourself into smiling through adversity if you just turned around and told yourself that it was all bullshit?

It was just better to not think at all. After all thinking leads introspection. Introspect leads to truth. Truth makes one face reality. And facing reality meant endangering the delicate house of cards that had basically been propping up his sense of self-worth for almost as long as he could remember. Given the choice of seeing this as an intensely personal moment of loss, recollection, and respect where they gathered the worldly belongings of her dead father figure, or an awesome mission to a missing nin's former hideout, he'd take the delusions thank you very much. It kept him from having to think.

So it was with that mindset that he passed through the final grove of trees and found himself looking at what was possibly the coolest building he'd ever seen.

It was large, very large, far larger than what anyone would ever consider to be possible in the dense, mangrove swamps that made up a good chunk of Nami's coastlines. It looked like if nothing else, a giant conus sea shell, the kind that had a large cone up top, and a smaller cone on the bottom. Instead, of being build into foundations like a normal building it as a giant tree house. It was built around a massive tree and supported by numerous cables anchoring it to the others around it. From the bottom spiraled a walkway, while the thick suspension cables also severed to support a number of bridges that lead into the branches of the surrounding trees.

This was a truly unique structure that was obviously created by ninja for ninja. It was, again, the coolest building that Naruto had ever seen.

"Awesome!" he exclaimed, stopping in the trees to look at Haku. "How did you guys get such a cool hideout?"

Haku smiled. "We found it. It's an old hidden village outpost that was left abandoned decades ago."

Naruto's already manic grin grew even more. An abandoned secret base! Who knew what awesome stuff could still be hidden in there!

Glancing back, probably to see what was holding Naruto up, Haku looked at him and said, "Lets go."

Naruto nodded. "Alright, Haku-chan!"

Haku deftly leapt onto the massive trunk of one of the trees, landing just below one of the bridges. She slid to a stop against the bare trunk, using her hands and chakra to stick to it before planting her feet and walking up the side as if it were simply a path.

Naruto momentarily thanked the kami that he'd had a chance to learn tree climbing before this. The bridge was at least a hundred feet off the ground, there were absolutely no low branches, and the trunk was smooth enough that there were virtually no finger holds. Chakra seemed to be the only way to climb. It would have been humiliating if he'd had to ask Haku to carry him, or even worse, muck around in the slimy swamp below to get to the spiraling pathway.

Naruto followed her onto one of the suspension bridges, almost jumping in place, muttering to himself about how cool this was when Haku's arm suddenly shot out in front of him.

"Naruto," she all but hissed. "Be quiet."

"Huh?" Naruto blinked. He knew Haku was nice so he wouldn't take it the wrong way, but he had to know, "What's up Haku-chan?"

She frowned. "Something isn't right here. The door was left open..."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. Yeah, he had been too busy focusing on how cool the place was that he'd missed obvious signs. The door was sitting slightly open and that was kind of odd.

"I see," he whispered slipping into what, at least for him, passed as serious. "We gonna check it out?"

She nodded and formed a pair of ice senbon. "I'll take the lead, Naruto-kun."

He nodded and followed. Slowly, and silently they walked down the bridge to the entrance taking great care not to make a sound. She was really good, Naruto observed as he followed. He'd always been pretty good at the stealthy stuff and felt he had the right to judge. After all, how else could he get away with half the pranks that he'd managed to pull off over the years?

Still though, he had to keep his mind on task. Who knew what kind of bad guy ninja could be right through that door, waiting and...

His eyes narrowed.

Naruto's arm rocked out and grabbed Haku's wrist moments before she started to push on the open door.

She froze and glanced at him. She looked intense, and maybe a bit annoyed, but where Sakura would have probably hit him, she simply asked him, "What?"

Naruto gently pulled her back and lifted his hand to signal that she needed to wait.

Haku nodded and did as he bid her without complaint, looking a bit puzzled but allowing him to do his thing.

He glanced at the door frame for a moment and scowled. Slowly he pulled away a kunai and very gently brushed a leaf away from the bottom of the jam. There, wedged carefully in the bottom of the hinge, almost invisible to the untrained eye was a small trigger.

It was a simple but elegant one that he'd used many a time himself that almost never failed to work. Especially when part of a... he smiled and looked up. Just as he thought. Almost never failed to work when part of a fake out.

Somebody here knew how to prank...

"What is it?" Haku asked.

"There's a trigger line hidden in the door jam and something balanced on the top of the door frame," Naruto replied calmly.

Haku blinked almost dumbfounded. "How did you..."

Naruto gently shushed her. "I need to concentrate."

She nodded obediently.

He paused and muttered, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

Two more Naruto's appeared in place and looked at each other with a nod.

"Right boss," the first said as they stepped up to the door.

The first knelt down and started pressing into the side of the trigger with a Kunai to hold it in place, while the second looked over to naruto and said, "Hey, you might want to get Haku-chan away from here, just in case."

Naruto nodded and grabbed Haku's hand. "We need to step away."

She blinked still a little dumbfounded, if only for a moment, before slipping back into fine control. "Why?"

"The problem with other people's pranks is you can't ever be sure that you've spotted all of them. Might want to leave it to the experts."

Clone one saluted before making a shooing motion.

Haku nodded and jumped into the trees, allowing Naruto to follow.

Once they were in some cover the first clone reached up into the door jam and slowly pushed the door forward. Meanwhile the second changed his grip from holding the trigger with the side of his Kunai to pinning it to the jam with the tip.

And happily, nothing happened.

Number one glanced in, scowled and stepped around the door. A moment later he emerged and gave number two a nod, after which the clone vanished in a burst of Chakra smoke.

Naruto dropped down and glanced at the clone. "So, what are we looking at?"

"Sure as hell wasn't itching powder," The clone muttered, holding out two small stacks of explosive tags.

Naruto frowned, almost insulted at the idea of the glorious art of pranking being perverted into something that caused harm in place of humor. "Bastards."

He glanced at the tags. While he was no expert in seals, to put it gently. For some reason nobody trusted him with them, he had a feeling that there was something strange with the seals on them. Carefully ficking deeper into stack he noticed the top ones were different than all the others.

Something in his gut said that they were probably something like impact sensitive flash seals. Not very powerful, but they go off quick. Probably designed to set off the others.

"By the way," the clone added, "It was a double fake out. The trigger line was hooked up to a trip line just incase."

Ambitious. Overly ambitious. Naruto frowned. Sloppy. It made the it more difficult and, considering what they were using, more dangerous to set up. Would have been better just to set up another prank. Somebody was good, but not nearly as good as he thought he was.

He carefully slipped pulled the flash seals off the stack. "Alright, take those two and dump them into the swamp," he commanded to the clone who jumped off the walkway with a quick nod.

Glancing back to his pretty companion he grinned. "Haku-chan, we should be in the clear for now."

"Naruto," she asked calmly, "What the hell was that?"

He laughed, "Hey, you're talkin' to the prankster king of Konohagakure, dattebayo! I've used this one more times than I can count. It's pretty decent, but if you know what to look for..."

She blinked. "Why didn't you tell me you were a traps expert?"

Naruto blinked. "Traps? I'm no expert. I'm pretty good at pulling pranks, that's all."

"You saw through this one like it was nothing," she stated.

Naruto blushed. He didn't get what the big deal was. "It really wasn't much... I don't use super cool ninja traps or anything, I just prank people when they're being jerks."

Haku shook her head. "Naruto... I..." she sighed, "We don't have time for this right now. Lets go." she replied before adding, "I want you to keep an eye out for any more... 'pranks'."

Naruto blinked for a moment, confused. He still didn't get it. As much as he'd like to think otherwise, throwing paint on the enemy wouldn't be useful in a ninja fight. Still, he'd do ask she asked.

- 5 -

Somebody was going to suffer. Haku seethed to herself as she burst from her master's hidden headquarters with the force and fury of one of the hounds of hell.

The entire place had been ransacked. Weapons, equipment, cash, even some of their clothing. Everything of value that wasn't nailed down was missing, hell, several of the more impressive fixtures that had been nailed down were missing.

She had some suspicions as to who did this. The explosive tags might be a giveaway, but no, she refused to let herself consider it. Maybe Zabuza was right, maybe she trusted a little too easily. On the same note, she could be completely wrong. It was a bit of a gamble, but considering the sheer amount that had been stolen, she couldn't afford to second guess.

Besides, did it really matter? She was going to hunt down those the bastards who stole from her and throttle the stupid out of them.

"Haku," Naruto exclaimed, "What's the..."

She shot him a dark look. "I need a kunai."

"Huh?"

"Please, Naruto-kun."

Naruto paused for a moment then nodded holding one out. "Alright here, but are you going to explain what..."

"No time!" she snapped, scanning the trees. A slight disruption in the branch cover, heading towards the sea told her all she needed to know. They were kind enough to have left a rather obvious path. To her at least, but there again she was a trained tracking nin so she knew what to look for. Of course so were most of her enemies, so if she could find your trail, they could find your trail, and in that case, not good enough.

Zabuza would've beaten anyone who left a trail that sloppy senseless on general principle.

She grinned viciously as she jumped into the woods. She'd just have to do so in her sensei's memory!

There was something to be said about anger how it affected your Chakra levels. It let you draw deeper than you normally could have and was another source of power that most people didn't consider. There was a reason for that, too. Running on rage burnt you out like nothing else, but right now she was pretty close to spent already. She was sure she'd feel this in about an hour, but she didn't have time to make questions. She needed to move.

If only they hadn't found the soldier pills that she kept in her underwear drawer.

Her thoughts froze for a moment before her anger doubled up. They went through her underwear drawer.

Thats it! Heads would roll for this!

- 5 - 5 -

Haku was scarier than Sakura when she was mad. Of this Uzumaki Naruto had no doubts.

For the past 5 minutes they'd been charging headlong into the swamps at her best speed, darting this way and that as she tracked whatever had looted her home with the clear intent of laying some some serious punishment.

He didn't know what was up really. From the looks of things it was ninja but if it was those hunter nin she was worried about it would probably have been better just to wait for her to show up, not rob the place and run. Did Gato have other ninja on his payroll or something?

Naruto hoped not because with Haku in her current condition he doubted she'd be much good in a fight and if there was one thing that the last couple days had made clear to him, while he was good he wasn't as good as he thought he was. Without Kakashi-sensei, this could be a really hard fight!

His eyes narrowed when in the distance he saw an approaching clearing. Right. He grinned. Time to get wild!

The two bust from the swamp onto a soggy shoreline. The seas were clear, the sky was bright, and in the distance one could see the hazy silhouette of the distant coastline of Hi no Kuni. If it wasn't for the fact they were standing in front of a muddy stinking swamp it would have been a really nice view.

"Damn it," Haku cursed.

"I think they got away," Naruto replied. "I mean I don't see any ninja around here I..."

Haku glanced over and looked down at the shoreline. "Hold on a moment, Naruto-kun."

Naruto blinked. "Huh?"

She glanced at him. "Time for a quick lesson."

That got his immediate attention.

"Do you see this?" she asked, pointing down at a shallow, water logged rut in the sand, with some shallow foot prints at the very water's edge.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. What does it mean?"

She looked at him. "What do you think it means?"

He frowned and furrowed his brow. He wasn't sure. He narrowed his eyes and thought about it. Looks like something heavy and narrow on the bottom was being drug into the water. Like a boat or something...

They were pulling a boat! And he knew it was more than one because there were foot prints on both sides. In fact one side seemed to have more foot prints than the others and...

He smiled. "Three sets of foot prints and a boat."

She smiled. "Very good. Now look out on the water. Do you see any boats with three people on them?"

He looked out and narrowed his eyes. "I see some boats but I can't tell the number of people. They're too far away..."

She continued to smile. "Very good, Naruto. Now you just have to go out there and find which one."

Naruto frowned. Was she serious? "Um, Haku-chan, you sure that's a good idea... I really don't want to see your stuff get stolen, but I can't swim all that!"

"So you don't want me to teach you Funryuu no Jutsu?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed even as his face twisted into a grin. Awesome new jutsu detected. Jutsu was being offered in payment for labor. Bribe accepted. Commence learning immediately.

"Okay, but..." he looked out to the water, "But that's a lot of boats."

She smiled. "Oh, this is a simple technique and one I think you're very well suited."

He blinked. "Huh? Really?"

She smiled and nodded. "I wanted to teach you water walking first, but I guess this is as good a time as any. The Water Jet Technique is a method of faster underwater movement. As you've already figured out the Kirigakure no Jutsu and have been trained in tree climbing you should already know the core basics. Because of its massive Chakra consumption most ninja do not learn it before becoming Chunin, but as your problem seems to be too much power, you're probably not going to have any problems with it."

Naruto blinked. Okay, that wasn't that awesome a technique. It was cool and all to be faster underwater but he'd kinda been hoping for something that exploded. He paused in thought. Did they have a block of elemental sodium in water no jutsu? Because if so he had to learn it.

"You simply form a single hare seal to help mold your chakra into water and then propel it out of your feet. Instead of trying to stick like you did to the tree you try and push it away from your feet like a steam. It'll propel you underwater at high speeds without having to swim."

"Hey," he asked, pulling his mind away from his momentary tangent, "That sounds real easy! Why were you going to wait to teach me?"

"Because its dangerous. If you use it poorly you could drown. I wanted to wait until you were safer around water or at least I had enough chakra to pull you out if I had to."

He frowned. That made sense but it made him wonder. "Then why tell me now? I mean I can't exactly learn this safe just like that."

"No," she admitted, "And I don't want to see you playing with it before you're ready, but your Shadow Clones on the other hand..."

Naruto blinked. Yeah. Good point. He smiled. Nobody cared if some stupid clones drowned or something.

"So I use that move and go looking at all the boats to find the one with three ninja on it?"

"Not quite," she replied. "You see that boat?" She pointed to one of the many.

Naruto blinked and looked at it. To him it looked just like, well, a boat. Not that he'd seen many boats before.

"That is a smaller boat than the others."

He narrowed his eyes for a moment and frowned. "I don't see it. It looks about the same size..."

"Look carefully," she replied, "Unlike most of the others it doesn't have a mast and you can make out the vague silhouette of human figures. It's an optical illusion. The others are probably several times the size but much more distant."

"Ah," Naruto replied. "That makes sense. So I check to see if there are three ninja on it?"

"Yes, though they'll probably be under Henge. If there are three people on it, its probably the right boat. If they're arguing like three morons, then it is most definitely the right boat."

"Oh" He blinked. "So what do I do with it when I get there?"

She smirked. "Sink it. They can swim."

- 5 - 5 - 5 -

Shadow Clone Twenty-Seven approached the bobbing boat in complete silence. To say he was ninja like would have been accurate, though it also would have been redundant considering he was a ninja and all. Well at least a duplicate of one. Though that did get him thinking, what was he really? Was he just a copy, was he his own person, and what happened to him when he popped? Did he die? Did he even have a soul?

Bah. Nonsense questions! He was a ninja, and ninja willingly give their lives to complete the mission, and how could he not after what had happened to some many of his brother clones! This was a perilous challenge. So many had already fallen in this epic quest of boat interception!

One through twelve had courageously given their lives, smashing into the bottom as they struggled to master this deadly technique! Twelve through twenty-four had traveled too deep and been unable to come up for air, bursting horribly as their lungs screamed for air! Poor twenty-five had been the first to get close, only to be cruelly struck down by an oar! And brave, brave twenty-six had rocketed ahead and sacrificed himself for the cause, smashing into the side of the boat to try and stun the occupants it with his own life!

No! He'd go on no matter the cost! For his brothers, for the boss! For the mission he'd go on! He'd put his existential concerns to the side and make their sacrifices worth something!

Anyways, he deftly approached the crafted and carefully peered up at his targets. As beautiful Haku had surmised, there was three of them, they were indeed morons, and they seemed to be in the midst of what could only be called a bitch fight in a canoe.

They were all middle aged. One was fat and balt, another had a severe face and the worst hair he'd ever seen, and the final of the three had a huge afro with an equally huge receding hairline. He was sure that these were the targets for no real trio of human beings could look quite as ridiculous as the three before him!

Slowly he bobbed his head to the surface, keeping careful to stay out of their point of view.

"Kari, you knuckle head!" exclaimed a harsh, angry looking with the bad bowl cut, "Look what you just did! You almost knocked Rari out of of the boat!"

"Come on, Mou!" his fat, bald companion cried out pitifully trying to stem his anger. "It's not my fault! I didn't do it!"

"Hey! cut it out!" The third interjected, "You're shaking the boat!"

"Shut up, you" the loud one exclaimed before slamming his boot down onto his comrade foot.

And this was, in Twenty-Seven's eyes, the simple stupidest thing he'd seen in his short life as the aged wood of the boat, already weakened by his comrades noble sacrifice, splintered and cracked under the impact.

"Arugh!" screamed the one with the balding afro, "My foot!"

"Uh oh..." whimpered the fat man

"Now look what you boneheads have done!" roared Bowlcut.

"How the hell is this my fault!" cried the man with the injured foot as he hopped about in place knocking the boat about.

"Relax guys! It's all just circumstance!" said the fat one gently, trying to defuse the situation.

"I'll show you circumstance!" the severe man with the big nosed roared, "I'll kill you!" He lunged forward, but his movement along with the hopping of his newly injured ally knocked the boat for a loop, sending all three into the water.

Clone Twenty-Seven looked up and winced as he saw what was coming. It was lucky that he was the last of his brethren, for he would hate to have been remembered as the clone that was killed by flying fat man's ass.

- 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 -

Back on shore, Naruto's palm struck his face with a loud smack.

"You've got to be shitting me," he muttered to himself.

Haku looked over, somewhat confused by his actions. "Huh?"

"Nothing," Naruto sighed and shook his head. "Seriously, those three are ninja?"

Haku sighed, shooting Naruto a long suffering look as he was bombarded with painful memories of serial stupidity. "Sadly, yes."

"Oh," Naruto muttered, shaking his head, "Say. what was that you were going to tell me before when I was talking about pranks?"

Haku smiled allowed herself to be distracted for a moment as she glanced out at the sea. In the distance they could see the boat going down as the three scrambled to climb back in and bale water out of it at the same time, only accelerating its already rapid descent into the deep with their bungling. It was like watching a wagon crash in slow motion, and she had to wonder, was she a bad person for being amused as hell by it all?

Taking a deep breath she put her mind back on focus. Yes. Naruto. Traps. "Right," she said, "Naruto, you claimed that you were a prankster, not a traps expert, right?"

He nodded, "Yeah, pranks are cool, but its not like I know any awesome trap jutsu or anything."

Trap jutsu? Haku had to ask herself. Was he serious? "Naruto, I'm no expert in the field but from what I've seen, well, except for maybe creative use of advanced Fuinjutsu techniques there's no such thing as 'cool trap jutsu'."

Naruto blinked and for a moment looked as if someone had just told him that the New Years Festival had been canceled. "There aren't?"

"No," she replied, "Most traps are just simple, cleverly set tricks like the ones you saved me from earlier."

"They are?" Naruto asked. "I mean, that was just a prank with a bomb. I mean what kind of jerk sets a prank that'll kill someone?"

"Naruto," Haku replied calmly, and feeling just a little annoyed due to how tired she was starting to feel, "The only difference between a prank and a trap is that a prank is intended to humiliate the target while a trap is designed to harm the target."

Slowly, a somewhat terrifying smile came to Naruto's face as his blue eyes lit up with what could only be called unholy fire. "You're telling me that all my pranks, the stupid, silly pranks that I used play on the villagers when they're being jerks... they're all actually super awesome ninja techniques?"

Against her better instincts, Haku answered honestly. "Yes."

- 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 -

Sasuke sighed deeply as he swallowed a mouthful of rice. For once he actually missed the dumbass. Honestly, eating with his team minus Naruto was a chore. While annoying in his own right, Naruto at least ran interference for him with Sakura. Without his comrade around to keep her annoyed she thought it was time to talk about romantic nonsense with her 'true love'. Kakashi was no help, rather he seemed to passively encourage it for his own amusement.

Blah blah blah, True love! Blah blah blah, Lets go on a date! Blah blah blah, Soul mates!

Et cetra. Et cetra. Et cetra. Ad nauseum.

Half of him wanted to smash his head into the table until he was no longer capable of hearing her pedantic ranting. The other half of him wanted to smash her head into the table until she was no longer capable of producing her pedantic ranting.

At least she wasn't as bad as Ino, he reflected. Close, but not as bad. Though thankfully the two of them decided to break off their friendship and fight over him. Because for as obnoxious as it was, the idea of being double teamed by them was the stuff of nightmares.

Or wet dreams.

Mostly nightmares.

Suddenly a chill went down his spine and his head shot up with a jerk.

"Hm?" Kakashi sounded, looking up from his meal.

"Something the matter, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked with great concern for his well being.

"I don't know, but I feel like somebody just walked over my grave."

- 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 -

"Oh, Tsunako, you naughty girl," giggled the Sandaime Hokage in all of his might and glory as he sat in his office, nose deep in his student's latest edition.

He had to admit it, for all of his flaws as a man, Jiraiya was a true genius as a writer. The epic story of Jimaru and his neverending quest for love and glory was a true masterpiece of Shinobi literature. Why, it was almost as wonderful as the secret intelligence reports skillfully encoded within the pages of every volume of Icha Icha Paradise.

He'd of course send it down to the Cryptanalysis Team for decoding once he was finished, but until them he would enjoy his unedited pre-release draft in all of its glory. This was one bit of paperwork that he never minded attending to.

It was then that a loud crack yanked him from his happy place.

Over 50 years of experience as one of the world's most dangerous ninja snapped him from dirty old man to seasoned killer as his eyes jerked to the source of the noise.

On his wall, there was as small mirror that he kept in order to ensure that he remained presentable at all times. After all, as Kage he was the face of the Village and thus expected to be presentable at all times.

It had cracked spontaneously.

He frowned. This was a bad omen.

"Something terrible has just happened..."

- 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 -

This was awkward, Naruto had to admit. While he was happy to know that he had an unexpected super awesome ninja skill that he'd have to put to good use, he had a feeling that the maniacal laughing had maybe been a bit too much. Haku was looking at him funny and he had no idea what to say.

So he didn't. He was sure this would blow over. He hoped. He sighed.

"Hey, Haku-chan?"

She slowly glanced over, "Yes, Naruto-kun?"

He blushed, "I'm sorry I got a little over the top there, but I was just excited to know that my mad pranking skills were actually, well, useful, dattebayo."

She smiled. If it wasn't for the split lip and bruised cheek she'd have looked radiant. As it was she was giving of that aura of 'hot girl with an abusive husband', which considering he was the one who'd caused those injuries, made him feel kinda guilty.

Though she had been an enemy and she'd made him think that she was a guy and that she'd killed Sasuke but he knew from reading novels that those kinds of guys came up with all kinds of excuses and...

"Haku-chan," he said, shutting up his blasted internal monologue, "I'm sorry I beat you up..."

"Don't be foolish!" she snapped.

"W-what?" Naruto exclaimed.

She frowned at him, and for the first time since they met she looked honestly disappointed in him. "Naruto-kun, I was you enemy. Don't be foolish. You did what you had to do."

"Yeah, I know," he whined, "But you're my friend now..."

She paused for a moment and then giggled slightly, "Is that what this is about? You're seeing my injuries and feeling guilty?"

He paused for a moment and then nodded slightly. "Yeah, it is."

She sighed and shook her head before giving him another radiant smile. "Don't feel guilty, Naruto-kun. The fact that we are friends now does not change that we used to be enemies."

"I know, but..." He paused for a moment and sighed. "I just don't like hurting people. I mean I know I'm a ninja, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"I feel the same way," Haku admitted, "I'm proud of it and I'd like to believe that Zabuza-sama was as well. Even as he chided me on my soft heart, he never attempted to force me to harden it..."

Her eyes narrowed somewhat as she glanced at the beach, and Naruto decided to follow her gaze. The three ninja from the boat were almost to shore. He had to admit they'd made pretty good time. Even he would have had some trouble making such good time.

He glanced back to her and said, "Haku, you know these guys."

It wasn't a question, it was a statement. He really should have asked when she'd pointed out that they'd be acting like idiots but he'd been broadsided by the realization that his pranks were actually ninja techniques. He grinned. Speaking of which he'd been letting himself go to seed. He'd need to get some 'training' in once he got back to Konoha...

Ignoring the savage grin that slowly crossed his features, she responded. "Yes I do."

He blinked. "So who are they?"

Haku frowned somewhat. "I'll explain in a little while. Lets get ready to greet the idiots," she said in a grouchy tone he normally wouldn't have expected from her.

She started up the beach and towards the shore. Naruto sighed and followed.

Meanwhile, the three were finally to the point where they could drag themselves through the surf, offering Naruto his first good look at them.

The first thing that struck him was that they were actually kind of young. Older than him for sure, probably around Haku's age. They were also all identically dressed, with camouflage shirts worn under tan vests with scroll storage pouches on the front and Hitai-ate worn in the proper place. If he had to make a bet he'd guess that they probably identified them as being from Kirigakure no Sato.

They all looked physically similar, with the similar bland features and lazy eyes, In fact they looked almost identical, discernible at range only by their slightly different take on the theme of spiky black hair. One of them, he noted with a chuckle, had the same duck's butt hair style that Sasuke wore.

"You dimwits," the one with the duck butt groaned as he pulled himself out of the water and landed face first on the beach. "When I can feel my arms again, I'm gonna murder the both of ya."

"Ugh," groaned the second to the beach, this one with similar but formless back swept spikes, "Come on Mou, accidents happen..."

"How about you come over here, Rari, and I'll show you an accident!" the first, now identified as Mou growled at the others.

"Oh, boy," the third, whose hair was almost the same as the second only slightly shorter, moaned bitterly as he joined them on the beach. "Not more of this. Come on guys..."

"Don't 'come on guys' me, your imbecil... one job. You knuckleheads had one job. One job! Row so we could get out of here before..."

"Before what?"

The three of them paused and visibly tensed.

Slowly, Mou turned his head to look up and found himself with a ground eye view of Haku's pretty pink yukata that almost had him jealous. Just a little glance up and... well... Haku had snuck up on them while they were bitching at each other and now she was right in front of them, an annoyed look on her face as she fingered the Kunai that he'd given her in a manner that probably would have seemed somewhat menacing if he was on her bad side and he didn't know she was almost out of Chakra.

"Oh crap..." Mou whimpered earning a glare from Haku.

"What the hell do you idiots think you were doing?" Haku snapped, "Your orders were clear. If anything happened you were to go to ground and await instructions."

Mou glared back up at her. "Yeah, and then you went and got your butts kicked by the tree-huggers," he grumbled, "What did you expect us to do, wait for them to squeeze our location out of you? Or, oh, I know! We could have stayed in place like three good little patsies and wait for the oinin to show up and tortured us to death! Sounds neat."

"He kinda has a point, Haku-san..."

"Shut up, Kuri. If I needed your help to argue my point I'd swim back out and drowned myself."

"Oh..."

"And what exactly did you idiots intend to do?" she asked, "You had good cover."

He glanced up, "Well, from what I've heard, Kiri Hunter-Nin aren't aloud to operate inside Fire Country. Plan was to go to another hidden village and throw money at them in hopes they'd take us in. Or maybe see if that new village in Rice Country could use someone competent."

"And if you found someone who was, I'm sure they'd just snatch them right up," Haku snapped.

"Come on, Haku, don't be that way," groaned Rari.

Haku sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Kami help me."

"Hey Haku," Kuri asked, "How'd you escape anyways? Not like I'm not glad to see you, but you might have some of those Leaf Nin on your tail."

"I didn't escape," she replied, calmly.

"What."

"What?"

"What!?"

She sighed. "Naruto-kun, come over here."

He grinned and jumped into view, "Alright, Haku-chan!"

Mou groaned and face planted into the sand. "So, Okama-chan, this is it? You sold us out? You're a real piece of work, you know that?"

"Actually," she replied, "They want me to join their village for my bloodline. I was going to make accepting you three stooges a condition."

Kari almost jumped to his feet. Or at least tried. He managed to sit up. "Really? You mean no more missing nin stuff?"

Naruto glanced over to Haku and gave the three another look. "Haku-chan, who are these guys?"

"They were Zabuza-sama's Genin team," Haku replied. "They followed him into exile."

No Brows had a Genin team? Naruto winced, actually a bit appalled by the idea. That couldn't have been much fun.

"Followed him into exile," Mou laughed as he sat up, "Well, that's one way to put it, Okama-chan!"

Haku's teeth clenched.

"When Psycho-sensei forced us to try and help him kill the Mizukage we were pretty much screwed either way so we got while the getting was good."

Haku twitched. "Show some respect. He protected you..."

"Protected us?" Mou growled as he stood up, "It's his fault to begin with! He's the one who terrorized us into stealing a copy of Yagura's seal! He's the one who forced us to come up with some way to disrupt it! That blood crazed maniac is the reason we're on the run to begin with!"

Haku growled and a spike of killing intent shot filled the beach. In a blur she had the kunai out and was pressing it into his left nostril, pulling slightly, forcing the young man to his tip toes to keep from getting cut.

"And right now, the only thing keeping you alive is my sense of obligation and my desire to honor Zabuza-sama's memory, but if you keep disrespecting him I will make sure that you live just long enough to regret it!" she all but roared. She gave the kunai a slight tug, "Do I make myself clear?"

One of the others stepped forward, his hands raised in a disarming manner. "Hey, hey now... lets not get too hasty, boss..."

"Shut up, Rari," she hissed before repeating herself. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-yeah."

"I can't hear you." she growled.

"Crystal!"

She withdrew the Kunai and took a deep breath. While the three seemed to miss it, she almost lost her footing. To them she probably looked like she was shaking with rage, but to Naruto it looked like like exhaustion. He was starting to worry.

She took a deep breath. "Good. Now, hand it over."

"W-what?"

"Don't be cute," she crossed her arms. "I know you took Zabuza-sama's things. They're mine by right. Hand them over."

Mou sighed and nodded. "Right. Give her the stuff from the hideout..."

Rari paused for a moment and then pulled out a couple of scrolls which she snatched from his hands.

"Good. Now the rest of it."

"The rest of it?" Mou asked, "That's all we got."

"Don't pretend that I'm stupid," she replied coldly, "You were in town yesterday when Zabuza-sama fought on the bridge. If the contents of our headquarters were all that you'd decided to run off with then, then you'd have been long gone by now," she paused, "Besides, I know you."

"Hrrrmph!" Kari growled in frustration, "Mou! I told you you were getting greedy!"

"Gah!" Mou growled, "Kuri you dimwit!"

"He already figured it out, Mou, there aren't nothin' to hide," he said as he pulled out another pair of scrolls.

Haku snatched the scrolls from his hands. "What's in them," she demanded.

Kuri scratched the back of his head, "Well, we were keeping an eye on Gato's place like Psy... um... Zabuza-sensei told us when we saw 'em leave with all his guards. So we decided it would be a good time to slip in and... well... snag some stuff."

She scowled. "Define stuff."

"Um, well," he flushed, "Well, we got his safe... and deeds... and records... and... well... I guess you could say we got his cash and paperwork... The important stuff... Pretty much everything really."

Haku smiled for the first time since they pulled themselve to shore. "Good job, Kuri."

He grinned, basking in the positive reinforcement. "Thanks!"

"Hey! It was my idea..."

"Shut up, Mou."

After a moment Rari reluctantly spoke. "Um, boss?"

She sighed. "Yes, Rari?"

"We were kinda the ones who got it... so we're kinda entitled to a cut, right?"

Haku looked at the two scrolls thoughtfully for a moment and then handed them to Naruto.

"That's up to Naruto-kun to decide."

Naruto blinked in confusion while Mou seemed to go completely white.

"What are you doing?!" he exclaimed.

She glared at him for a moment and then smiled at Naruto. "I trust him to do what is right with the contents of those scrolls."

"Ugh," he groaned, "We're gonna have to take orders from a midget now, aren't we? How old is he? Ten?"

"Hey!" Naruto growled, "Who are you calling a midget!?"

"He's stronger than I am," Haku observed.

Mou's eyes almost bulged and her turned an interesting shade of purple before stammering out, "Heheh... Hey! Out with the old boss and in with the new, that's what I say! I'm Tesaki Mou and these are my brothers Kuri and Rari!" he paused for a beat, "Please don't kill me!"

"Well I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm going to be the strongest Hokage ever, dattebayo!"

"Uzumaki..." Mou sputtered turning a ghostly shade of white.

"Uh oh," Rari stammered out, looking just as frightened as his brother.

"Umh..." Kuri whimpered.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked. When they heard his name, they looked like they'd seen a ghost. A scary one at that.

"Yes," Haku said, "What is going on?"

Mou grinned, "Um, Haku, this might not be the best place..."

Her eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms, a deep scowl marrying her pretty face as she tapped her foot expectantly.

"Y-you know all those scrolls we got? The ones on fuinjutsu that we like so much?"

"Yes..."

He gave Naruto a sideways glance with a big stupid smile on his face. "Well-ll w-where do you think my family got them...?"

She sighed deeply, rubbed her temple, and shook her head. "You know what, yes. It can wait."

"Hold on," Naruto muttered in confusion, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Kuri blinked. "You don't know."

"What should I know?"

"Nothing!" Mou exclaimed, "Absolutely nothing! Really! Nothing to know here! Not at all! This is a no knowing zone!"

"You've got that right," Haku muttered under her breath, bitterly.

Naruto glared at him. You've got to be kidding. Did they really expect him to swallow that load of bullshit?

Haku looked over to Naruto. "Naruto-kun, can we please discuss this later? Maybe after lunch? Please?"

He sighed. He could see how tired she was. "Alright Haku lets go get some..." he groaned. Oh he was going to regret this, he just knew it... "Sushi."

She smiled and glanced to the trio. "Alright, lets go."

With that said, they began towards the town in blissful silence. At least at first.

"Ah, Boss?" Rari asked.

Hau sighed and glanced back. "What is it now, Rari..."

"Well, I hate to say this, and I don't mean to offend you none, but you kinda... really need a new look."

Haku blinked in confusion. "What?"

"I mean, the whole 'dude looks like a lady' thing, you kinda pull it off really good... but its pretty creepy. I mean wearing pink is one thing, but panties... and... well... are those falsies? I mean seriously, man... t-that just ain't right. Makes a guy feel a bit unsettled in his sexuality if you get my meaning..."

Haku paused for a moment before face palming with a groan. "I'm actually a girl you idiot."

He blinked. "No, you're just pullin' my leg. You've gotta be. You've said you're a boy one too many times for me to buy that..."

"Really," Naruto added. "She is."

He blinked. "How'd you know?"

"Bath accident," Naruto stated wearing a blush and an indignant look from Haku, "Don't ask the details."

"You mean you've seen the goods... and he's a she... that means those soldier pills were hidden in..." his eyes went wide and he was blasted backwards by two fonts of blood exploding from his nostrils.

Kuri stood in place for a moment and then fist pumped into the air. "Waho! Still straight!"

Everyone looked at him. It was an awkward silence.

"Stupid sexy Haku."


	6. Chapter 6

If Hatake Kakashi had to describe his mood, he'd probably say it was somewhere between a benign sense of exasperation and outright annoyance. Haku. He needed to have words with that girl. Polite words, yes. But words would be exchanged for she'd done two things that had raised some mentionable issue.

First, there was Pakkun. While he trusted her enough to grant her a degree of parole she was still technically an enemy combatant being held under observation. He understood that she valued her, for lack of a better term, intimate personal moments. He also regretted, to a degree that Pakkun had been required to intrude. But the simple fact was that it had indeed been required. He needed to know what she was doing and where she was at all times, not only for the sake of his team, but for her own.

In the case that Kirigakure Oinin were detected his Ninken were under strict orders to inform him immediately. Her bloodline would do the village absolutely no good if she was raped to death and her body left desecrated beyond all study in a shallow, unmarked pit grave. Besides, all things considered, she was a good kid and nobody deserved to end up like that.

That accounted for his exasperation. The girl was being difficult, but he was sure she'd be more reasonable once he spoke to her. His annoyance though, that was entirely due to the three slouched forms that were dutifully following her and his subordinate back into town like a trio of lost puppies.

She hadn't mentioned them. That annoyed him very much. Now, he could understand why. After all, those who did not protect their comrades were the lowest form of filth, but at the same time this was one more unexpected factor thrown onto a mission that was already a grand pile of unwelcome surprises that had been dumped on his head from on high. It had also put their lives in danger.

After all, if he'd found three unknown Kirikagure shinobi creeping around the countryside there could have been a misunderstanding. Misunderstanding between ninja all too often ended with one or more parties on the slab. And if appearances were at all anything to go by, it would not have been him. That would have made for a very awkward moment indeed and one he would not have not appreciated one bit.

Yes. He definitely needed to have words with her. Strong words, but polite none the less. He suspected she intended to do the same, both to complain about Pakkun and explain the identities of the three following her. That would be unacceptable. By initiating the contact she would be in a slight position of strength. He couldn't allow that. The girl needed to be reminded of the realities of her situation. She needed to be reminded that she was not in control and that meant he'd need to be the one to establish contact.

Of course this also brought into play his very own personal wildcard, Uzumaki Naruto. From what he'd been able to gather about the girl she was a born follower. Not only that but she prided herself on being a good follower, and having already bonded with the boy over their superficially similar backgrounds she'd dutifully attached herself to his loud mouthed Genin. Almost at the hip he thought to himself with a suppressed giggle. As long as Naruto was around she was controllable, if not directly, then through him.

That was the positive, the negative was that Naruto was passionate and unpredictable which meant he had to handle this situation in a careful manner. Naruto helped ensure her loyalty, but in turn he was viciously protective of the people he cared about. He could not afford to undermine his authority by letting his genin go off on a tangent. He needed to be gentle but stern, and possibly introduce a superficial 'compromise option' to placate Naruto and subtlety reinforce his control over the situation.

Yes. Sounded good, but now he just had to wait. He could show himself now, but he wouldn't. Since Haku was obviously taken with his beloved student, he'd treat her like he would any other student, and that meant teaching her an important life lesson in the most entertaining way possible!

He'd toy with them a bit. He'd follow and let just a hit of his presence be known. Then at the moment of maximum paranoia he'd step with with a smile on his face and a bounce in his step. Both for the sake of making his point and for the sheer bloody self-amusement of seeing them jump clear out of their skins.

Ah. He smiled. He loved being a Ninja.

- 6 -

For the fifth time in as many minutes Haku glanced over her shoulder. There was that feeling again. Something wasn't right. It was like someone was watching her. She didn't like it. As someone who was used to being hunted her instincts about such things were very good and that feeling was one that put her on edge in a way that little else could.

It left her tense and afraid, especially now with her chakra in such a sorry state. She wanted to flee, to run for cover and find a place to hide, a place to recover her chakra and plan what to do next but she couldn't. That would let her pursuers know that she knew she was being followed. That would spring the trap and in doing so would both doom the morons and possibly put Naruto in danger. She couldn't allow that, it was unacceptable.

She'd soldier on, act like nothing was wrong, and then slowly maneuver to safety. Right now the safest place was in Kakashi's company. The second safest place would be in a public place surrounded by civilians and in plain sight.

While the Mizukage was a paranoid maniac and his hunter nin sadistic monsters, Kiri still required outside contracts to pay the bills. Attacking her in public would reflect poorly on the village and could negatively affect the bottom line.

Ideally she should find Kakashi as soon as possible but she didn't know where he was at the moment and the time needed to find him would leave her open to an attack that she had no hope of withstanding.

"Well, there's the Sushi stand," Naruto said with a sigh, "Lets get this over with."

Normally she'd take mild offense to someone taking her favorite food so lightly, but right now she was honestly too terrified to care. Instead she simply kept up her act and smiled. "Oh, don't be like that, Naruto-kun. Come on, try and enjoy it for me..."

Please, if it's to be my last meal, at least enjoy it together with me. Please.

He let out a sigh and said, "Alright Haku-chan, after all, you've helped me out so I can give it a go!"

She smiled and fought the tears that were threatening to well up. Thank you.

Slowly she moved her hands down to Naruto's and grasped it, squeezing tightly for strength as she struggled to maintain her composure. This earned her an inquisitive look from Naruto. She just smiled.

"Hey," Mou cut in, "You want us to go somewhere else? I mean you seem to have a moment going here..."

"No!" she snapped maybe a bit more intensely than she intended. "You three are coming with. In fact I do not want you to leave my sight. Not for a moment!"

"But what if I have to use the bathroom?" Kari complained.

"Not for a moment!"

Mou blinked. "You tense or something?"

She fought down both a shudder and a grimace of disappointment. Those idiots didn't suspect a thing. "I'm fine," she glanced over to a bewildered Naruto. "Come on, Naruto-kun. Lets eat."

He blinked. "Um, right Haku-chan!"

The stand was relatively large as far as open air sushi bars went, with easily enough room for the five of them, and it was nice and open and in public view. She'd had to just hope that if they mingled long enough that Kakashi would come looking for his student.

Behind the counter of the bar was an older couple, probably in their late fifties. A jolly looking man with a wide face and a wide smile and a matronly looking woman with kind eyes. She felt guilty for literally bringing danger to their doorstep.

"Uzumaki-sama!" the man exclaimed with a smile "And Haku-sama!"

Both of them bowed. "We are honored that you would grace our humble establishment!"

Naruto grinned and scratched the back of his head. "Well, sushi isn't really my thing but it's Haku-chan's favorite so we're here for her."

"Not your thing?" the man looked agast, before winking to his wife. "Honey, I think I know just the thing we need to make to help Uzumaki-sama feel at home!"

The woman giggled. "I know what you're thinking, dear. Making it will make me feel young again!"

They laughed, leaving Haku looking a bit confused. Naruto as well from the look of him.

He chuckled again and looked back to the group. "You look over the menu and tell me anything you want! For the Heroes of Wave, all you can eat, no charge!"

Haku's eyes went wide and she could feel her mouth starting to water as her stomach made a loud growling sound. For a moment she completely forgot about the sword dangling over her head as she processed what he just said.

Sushi? All you could eat?

She grabbed the menu so quickly the air almost cracked.

"I'll order for myself and Naruto-kun!"

"What about us?" Kuri asked.

He glanced at them for a long moment. "I didn't see you three fighting on the bridge."

"Ah, we were helping out somewhere else, ain't that right Ok-... um... Haku-san?"

Haku frowned for a moment. "Yes, they were...," she tensed, gritting her teeth slightly, "Useful."

"Is that right?"

Haku felt a hand on her shoulder and literally jumped with a high pitched female screech, her tension being released all at once like a wound coil, spinning around in place she swung her kunai, narrowly missing the smug face of Hatake Kakashi who leaned away from her strike like he was dodging a blow from a playful kitten.

"Ma Ma, Haku-chan," he said "Watch where you swing that thing. You could put someone's eye out."

Haku stood in place wild eyed, red faced, and panting, her nerves frayed from the shock but at the same time so relieved by the Jonin's presence that she almost wanted to hug him. Kakashi was here! She was safe!

As for Kakashi he was standing in place, one hand still on Naruto's shoulder, looking oh so very amused.

"Imagine seeing you crazy kids here and with three new friends! My how are you boys doing today?" he smiled and glanced at the three genin who'd gone ghost white in the presence of the foreign jonin.

"W-we're fine!" Rari squeaked.

"Y-yeah, just great!" Mou added.

"How you doing, Kakashi-san!" Kari added with a smile earning an incredulous look from his brothers.

"Kari," Mou whispered a bit too loudly to keep it from being heard by all, "The hell are you doing?"

"He asked how we're doing, it's only polite to ask him back!"

"Ugh, you moron," Mou grumbled.

"I like him," Kakashi stated with a smile, before glancing at Mou, "You, not so much."

He looked back to Haku with a peeked eyebrow. "You alright, Haku-chan? You seem a bit tense."

She blinked. A bit tense? Wait. If she could feel that she was being watched then a Jonin of his caliber would definitely be able to, then why would he need to ask... unless... that son of a bitch.

"How long were you following us?"

Kakashi smiled and reached for one of the stools. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he glanced at the confused looking bar owner. "Mind if I join in?"

"Of course not, Jonin-sama!"

Kakashi grinned and slipped into the stool between Haku and Mou, causing the fidgety genin to slowly rise to his feet.

"Don't move on my account."

And then sat right back down.

She frowned deeply. "So, no idea what I'm talking about then?"

He smiled. "Not a clue."

"So I guess there really is a hunter nin stalking us then."

The brothers all froze in place and Naruto looked confused. Kakashi just chuckled.

"Spoil my fun," he commented before adding, "So, Pakkun said the two of you discussed cuisine. Something about making soup?"

Her face darkened. Was this revenge for frightening his pug?

"What's she talking about, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Kakashi-san ordered one of his ninken to stalk me," she replied coolly, "He followed me when we went to see Zabuza-sama..."

"Ma ma, stalk is such a strong word," Kakashi replied, "Remember, in the eyes of Konoha you are not yet a friend."

"Hey!" Naruto cut in, "She's my friend!"

"But not the villages," Kakashi countered, "Not yet. Besides, you're watching out for her is why I have no problem letting her walk about."

Naruto blinked. "Really?"

He nodded. "You're a good judge of character, Naruto-kun."

Haku frowned. She wasn't buying it. "Then why have your dog follow me?"

"For your own protection," he replied, "Yes, Pakkun was under orders to observe you but he was also under orders to report in the moment he saw even the slightest hint of a Hunter team. After all, you're valuable to the village..." he smiled, "But most importantly, Naruto sees you as a friend, and that means that I'm obliged to protect you with my life."

She blinked in confusion. She failed to see the logic. "What?"

He nodded. "I know Naruto. He holds his friends to be very precious to him and would give everything to protect them. Isn't that right, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto nodded. "That's right! I'm not going to let anyone hurt you, Haku-chan!"

"And as his comrade, I'll die before I let anything happen to him. After all, those who abandon their comrades are the lowest form of scum, urgo... He'll die to protect you, and I'll die to protect him. So, as long as one of my cute little subordinates is keeping an eye on you, I promise that I'll be there keep you safe," he shrugged, "Besides, the Konoha shinobi code offers customary protection to all ninja who express the desire to defect."

"What about us?" Rari asked.

Kakashi glanced over. "Who are you again?"

Haku shook her head in amusement. While before she didn't like Kakashi now she... She paused. Actually, she still didn't like Kakashi, but at least now she understood Kakashi. Well, at least a little bit, and what she found was at least something she could respect. It was no wonder that Kakashi was so strong. Only someone who fought to protect his precious people would have been strong enough to defeat Zabuza. And while she was not precious to him, Naruto was, and since she was precious to Naruto, Kakashi would protect her for Naruto's sake.

She smiled and looked up to him, only to find him nose deep in an orange novel that she knew very well to be pronographic. A book which he was shamelessly reading in public.

Her smile quickly faded only to be replaced by a twitch.

No, she decided right then and there, she didn't respect Kakashi, even if she could understand him somewhat.

- 6 - 6 -

One-hundred twenty-seven.

Sasuke grunted.

One twenty-eight.

This time he groaned.

One twenty-nine.

Sweet kami, his abs were on fire.

One thirty.

"Sasuke-kun, would you like to go with me into town to get some anmitsu with me?"

No, you insufferable shrew, I want to get up to one hundred and fifty before taking a rest. And if you were any kind of real ninja you'd have spent at least part of the day training rather than spending the entire time bothering me and reading harlequin romance novels like some kind of low-rent version of Kakashi.

Of course, Sasuke didn't say this. His mother had raised him to be polite and in her memory he'd at least make an attempt to remain as such. While he knew well, and cared little that he came off as aloof and cold, it was mostly because frankly everyone else sucked and it was all he could do to keep from telling them how much and why.

"No."

One thirty-one.

One of the advantages of tree climbing, Sasuke reflected was coming up with new and interested ways to push his body to surpass his old limits. Inverted squats were something new he'd just come up with and so far they were not disappointing. Basically, they were just like normal squats, only instead of doing them standing on the ground, you do them while using your chakra to stick to the underside of a tree branch.

The effects of gravity combined with the chakra drain and focus needed to keep attached made them much more difficult, and hopefully, much more productive than a normal squat.

One thirty-two.

As Sasuke fought a winning battle with his own limitations he watched as Tazuna arrived home, only to be instantly met outside the door by a concerned looking Tsunami. Whatever she said had a great effect on the man as he recoiled almost physically when told whatever it was that she'd told him.

Frowning somewhat, Sasuke activated his sharingan and focused. While under-developed and still untrained, it did grant him almost unparalleled perceptive ability.

One thirty-three.

While lip reading wasn't exactly the greatest of his talents, he was able to pick up on some of the conversation. They were discussing Naruto and Tazuna was saying something about speaking to someone about him.

Sasuke frowned. This was something that put him maybe a little bit on edge. Civilians skulking off to speak to mysterious people about teammates was something that made him feel maybe just a bit uncomfortable.

He also noted that doing this with his Sharingan active made it even more difficult and thus, from now on, he'd do his sets with his eyes on.

One thirty-four.

And speaking of his eyes, he'd keep them locked on the architect. The moment he left to visit whomever he was going to see, Sasuke would be right behind him. After all, while he wasn't too fond of the loud mouthed idiot, Naruto was his teammate and when he'd thought that Sasuke had been killed he apparently had almost killed Haku to avenge him.

One thirty-five.

And that meant that despite his idiocy, Naruto was strong enough to respect.

- 6 - 6 - 6 -

Naruto really had to admit, sushi's actually wasn't so bad once you get over the whole raw fish deal. It was actually pretty good. It was no substitute for ramen that was for sure, but hey, he could do this again.

He glanced over to Haku who was on her third platter.

Though he'd have to figure out how to get someone else to cover it. Seriously, he'd seen the prices on the menu and there was absolutely no way he was ever going to be able to cover Haku's appetite on a Genin's pay grade. It almost made him sympathize with Iruka-sensei for all that ramen he'd been forced to pay for over the years.

Almost.

"Hey, Jiji!" Naruto exclaimed with a smile, "How about some more of that unagi stuff. It was pretty good!"

The old chef smiled and winked. "Coming up in a moment, Uzumaki-sama! We're making something special for you, Uzumaki-sama!"

Naruto blinked and then grinned. Nobody except Tenchu-jiji had ever cooked something special just for him! It was almost enough to make him jump in his seat "Something special? For me? Cool! What is it!"

"It is a special dessert sushi!" he exclaimed.

Haku looked up and swallowed before speaking. "Special dessert sushi?"

The wife nodded, "Once upon a time it was very popular..."

Naruto blinked, "What happened."

The couple shared a long look and glanced back to Naruto, a sad and wistful look in thier eyes, "Times change my boy, but things are looking up again so we've made it in your honor."

Naruto's smile grew. "Come on, show it to me! What is it?"

The old man leaned forward, a twinkle in his eye. "Are you sure you want it now? I wouldn't want to ruin your meal with some untimely sweets."

Haku smiled. "Yes, please. What is it?"

"Ah," the wife spoke, "It's a local specialty that uses sweetened rice and a filling of bean jam."

Haku cocked her head showing some interest, while Naruto was just anxious to see what this awesome sushi was.

"Alright," the husband relented, though it was obvious even to naruto that he was just trying to build up anticipation. "My I present, an old speciality that I'm sure is going to become popular again..."

He slid forward a tray of sushi that had everyone's attention. On it were a number of standard rolls like any other sushi, but what caught Naruto's eye was the design...

"Uzumaki!"

Uzumaki. Whirlpool Roll. It was a fitting name. The white and black, rice and bean jam, when rolled up formed a very familiar spiral. The symbol that the Hokage has told him was the mark of his long lost family.

They'd said it was an old favorite, so they couldn't have invented it for him. He didn't know how, he didn't know why, but this touched him in a way that he couldn't understand.

Not even realizing it, Naruto's hand trembled as he slowly reached forward, almost out of his conscious control. A tear rolled down his cheek, his chest was heavy, and he almost let loose a small sob as he his hand slowly moved towards this double pun in the form of the symbol of a family that he'd never known. All rolled up in edible form.

And slowly, and almost blind to the world around him, he looked at it before popping it into his mouth.

He didn't know if it was the sushi, or if it was the emotion, but the sweetness hit him like a sledgehammer. It was wonderful. It was delicious. It was enough to move him to tears.

It was simply put, the best thing he ever tasted...

Wait.

No.

That was still Ichiraku Ramen.

But this was still pretty fucking good.

- 6 - 6 - 6 - 6 -

"Sakura."

Aforementioned girl absolutely beamed when the object of her affections said her name. All too often he was aloof and cool, being so dark and mysterious but every once in a while he turned his attention to her and gave her that oh so sexy come hither look that made her shudder.

"Yes, Sasuke-kun," she all but gushed, absolutely sure that he was about to ask her out. After all, she'd suggested anmitsu earlier and could understand if he wanted to finish his training and rest. After all, one didn't go out on a date exhausted.

And besides, he might need some energy for what comes after! Shannaro!

He gave her a sexy little turn of the lip and an oh so mysterious look that made her all but shudder.

"I need you to do something for me," he said in a voice so smooth it that it made her want to purr like a kitten while gazing into her soul with two eyes that glittered like two pools of molten black chocolate. Sweet Kami, he was so intense!

"W-what do you need, Sasuke-kun?" she asked, feeling a bit weak in the knees...

...And moist in the panties!

He glanced out at the wooden path that lead away from the house and though the marshlands. It wasn't anything special. It was getting a little late in the day but except for old man Tazuna walking past the only thing worth wondering about was the same old question of who the hell builds their house over water in the middle of a swamp?

Slowly she glanced at Sasuke who again looked at her.

"You didn't happen to catch the topic of the conversation that he had with Tsunami-san earlier, did you?"

She blinked. "I wasn't paying attention."

He grunted and walked past her. "I didn't think so."

Sakura was confused. Did she say something wrong? "Sasuke-kun?"

"I'm going out," he stated. "If I don't return before Tazuna-san does, inform Kakashi-sensei that the old man needs to be interrogated. If neither of us returns, he needs to speak with Tsunami-san."

She blinked. "Sasuke-kun? What's going on?"

He glanced back. "They were talking about Naruto. I want to know why."

She frowned. Why would he be interested in Naruto like this? He got lucky once in a while but there really wasn't much to him that you couldn't pick up within the first thirty seconds of him opening his mouth.

Still, she knew better than to get in Sasuke's way when he got all sexy and intense like this. Maybe if she did well he'd take her out when he was done! Yeah! That was probably it.

"Alright Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke grunted in affirmation and moved to jump into the trees.

Before he could jump though, she realized something and called for him to, "Wait."

He looked back once more.

"What if Kakashi-sensei gets back before you do?" she asked.

"Tell him I'm training."

And with that, Sasuke was gone leaving Sakura confused and more than a little disheartened.

A small voice in her mind wondered if he didn't want to go out with her to begin with.

She quickly stabbed that little voice in the kidneys.

- 6 - 6 - 6 - 6 - 6 -

"Hey, Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed as he and the others entered eyeshot of the house.

Kakashi-sensei had decided to return to Tazuna's place with Haku and her three. Well... he didn't exactly want to think of them as morons, idiots, or anything like that. After all, he'd been called stupid enough times himself over the years he doubted they liked it any more than he did. He'd have to think of something else. He smiled. He had it. Dumbasses.

Kakashi-sensei had decided to return to Tazuna's place with Haku and her three dumbasses to basically ask them about themselves as those were not really the kinds of questions you asked at a sushi bar in front of a couple of smiling civilians. They were nice and all, but ninja stuff was for ninja.

As for Sakura, when Naruto greeted her, instead of a smile and a hello like he'd been hoping for, she simply groaned and looked up at him, "Naruto, can't you see I'm reading?"

She paused and glanced at the group, now three ninja larger. "Kakashi-sensei, who are they?"

"Not quite sure yet," Kakashi said with a smile, before glancing back. "Who are you guys again?"

Rari frowned. "We're Zabuza's Genin Team. Didn't we already tell you that?"

Kakashi nodded to Sakura, ignoring Rari completely. "There you go."

Sakura for her part seemingly had almost the same reaction Naruto had. She turned an interesting shade of green.

Haku frowned. Mou grimaced and said, "However bad you think it is, it was actually about ten times worse."

Sakura actually winced "Ugh. My sympathies."

"Well," Kakashi said, "Now that we're all friends, why don't we get everyone together and have a nice chat..." he slowly looked at Haku, "This is everyone, correct?"

She simply scowled in response, "Sadly, yes."

Kakashi simply smiled. "Wonderful. Sakura, where is Sasuke?"

She flushed slightly, "Sasuke's in the woods, sensei. He's training."

Kakashi simply cocked his head. "Is that so?"

She nodded. "Right, sensei!"

"I see," he made a hmmm sound for a moment and then smiled, "Why that sounds like a wonderful idea, Sakura-chan!"

She blinked. "What?"

"Training," he replied, "Haku and Naruto have been training all day!" he looked over her for a moment, "I want you to do six laps to the bridge and back."

Sakura grimaced before nodding. "Okay, Sensei," she replied reluctantly before starting to stretch her legs.

"I want you to report back in when you're done," Kakashi added, "In about..."

He pulled back his glove to expose a small wrist watch. "A half hour. Starting... now."

Sakura turned bone white. "T-thirty minutes!?"

Kakashi looked back down. "Twenty nine minutes fifty-five seconds actually... hurry up Sakura-chan, you're burning daylight!"

"Y-yes sir!" she squeaked as she broke off in a full run.

Naruto watched the pretty pink haired girl retreat with a confused look on his face. He didn't get the problem. Thirty miles in as many minutes? Sure, that was enough to build up a good head of sweat, but it wasn't anything to freak out over. Right?

Kakashi sighed, shaking his head as the girl ran off before running through a series of hand seals and biting his thumb.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Two dogs appeared in an explosion of smoke. One was a massive black bull dog with a spiked collar. The other, a small and cute little pug.

"Wow, that was cool!" Naruto exclaimed.

Haku on the other hand just glared at the pug.

"Uh, Kakashi..." the pug looked up.

"Don't worry, Pakkun, I had a chat with her. She understands she was out of bounds."

"Just learn to respect boundaries," Haku stated with a huff.

"Wonderful," Kakashi said with a smile, "We're all friends now!"

Haku crossed her arms and scowled looking very much like an indignant child. It was a stance that Naruto was well used to.

"Pakkun, I want you to find Sasuke and..."

"Oh come on, Kakashi," the dog whined. Literally whined. There was a canine whimper in there. "I already got in enough of a mess today following around one of your kids."

"Don't worry," he replied, "This is an easy one. Just find him, stay at range, and make sure he's alright."

The dog sighed and bound off into the woods, "Don't forget, you owe me those bones!"

Kakashi smiled and then looked to Naruto. "Make me a shadow clone."

"Huh?" Naruto blinked. "Right. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A second Naruto appeared in a burst of smoke.

"So," the clone asked, "What do you need me for?"

Kakashi reached into his pocket and handed the clone a small wad of bills and sealing scroll. "I want you to go out and get me a jumbo Tonkatsu to go..." he paused, "Make it a double if there is enough. Put it in this scroll and bring it back. The real you can keep the change."

Naruto grinned. Yeah! He was going to get some pocket money! Ramen here we go!

His clone on the other hand, he looked dejected at the task he was given.

"Oh man, delegated to fetching takeout for my lazy ass sensei..." the clone grumbled.

"It's actually for Sakura," Kakashi replied.

The clone blinked. "Oh. Alright then."

He obediently took the scroll and cash and bound off. Finally, Naruto turned to the last of his Ninken, who was obediently waiting for his orders.

"Bull, follow Sakura and stay out of sight. If she passes out, bring her home..." he paused for a moment and glanced at the cold, mucky, brackish water that was the defining character of the surrounding wetlands, "Then dump her in the swamp to help wake her up. Make sure she doesn't notice you. Make sure she doesn't drowned."

The large bulldog nodded and bound off.

Kuri shuddered. "Nyah! He's nearly as bad as Zabuza-sensei!"

Rari looked over. "Is he running behind her swinging a huge sword screaming about how he'll murder her if she slacks off?"

Kuri paused for a moment. "He's not nearly as bad as Zabuza-sensei!"

Kakashi shrugged. "Nah. That comes later."

There was a long awkward pause.

Naruto gulped and glanced at his teacher. He wasn't serious. He couldn't be serious. Right? "Kakashi-sensei?"

The Jonin cracked a grin. "Just kidding."

Naruto frowned. Somehow he didn't quite believe him.

"As for you four, how about we go inside and have a friendly chat, okay?"

- 6 - 6 - 6 - 6 - 6 - 6 -

Uchiha Sasuke slowly crept behind the old man, sticking to cover and shadow. So far he had not been detected. That was nothing to be proud of, rather it was simply to be expected of a Konoha shinobi. Had the old man shown even the slightest hint that he might on some level believe he was being followed, it would have been a personal failure that would have reflected poorly on his abilities. That would mean that he required remedial training.

His eyes narrowed. Uchiha Sasuke did not 'do' remedial. His pride as an Uchiha only permitted progression, and possibly supplement when the topic was of particular interest.

No, the only emotions he felt right now were a dull sense of contentment from a job done efficiently and some lingering annoyance. How much longer was it going to take this foul smelling drunk to get to... well... wherever the hell he was going to? They'd been walking for almost an hour, skirting the stinking mangrove swamps of his blasted island and heading deeper and deeper into the interior.

What this had to do with Naruto, he didn't know, but he'd find out. He was an avenger and Naruto had at least attempted to become the same in his name. He understood the conviction that took. He owed the moron this much.

A few minutes of keeping to the brush and biting down his desire to grumble about his desire to hurry the fuck up, he finally got his wish. Around the last stand of trees was at least probably what had to Tazuna's destination. He honestly had to say to himself that while he hadn't know where he was going, this was probably the least likely place he'd have considered.

It was a shrine, an old one from the looks of it. It wasn't falling apart or anything but it was pretty long in the tooth. It looked like someone was trying to care for it and putting in a valiant effort, though from the looks of things they were slowly losing the battle with time.

Unaware of his tail, Tazuna walked past the tori and up to the entrance of the building proper, only for it to be opened for him. In the doorway stood an old man, easily as old as the Hokage though at least from the looks of him they couldn't be any more different in character.

His hair was grey and long, not thin but certainly somewhat unkempt. His features were craggy and severe, his eyes squinting and his mouth seemingly twisted into a permanent scowl. He was dressed in the robes of a priest which seemed as tired and well worn as the rest of him. Slowly he gazed over the courtyard and locked onto Tazuna, the presence of whom seemed to only further disrupted the thoroughly unpleasant looking old shinkan.

"What do you want, boy," he grumbled. His voice was rough, low, and bitter. He'd heard the term gravely before but this man could be the face of the definition. He had the sound of a sack of rocks being ground against itself.

Tazuna began to bow deeply, "Greetings, Shingi-sam..."

"Pick yourself up boy and don't call me that!" he hissed.

Tazuna flushed somewhat. "I apologize."

"Don't apologize," he grumbled, "Just don't do it again. Not that you'll listen."

The old man turned away and walked inside. "Hurry up," he snapped. "You obviously have something to say and if it wasn't worthwhile then you wouldn't have walked all this way."

He paused for a moment and then grunted. "Bah, come in. I'll put on some tea."

Sasuke scowled as Tazuna removed his shoes and walked into the building. He wasn't going to be able to hear him like this. Swiftly and silently he moved in closer, not wanting to miss whatever they were talking about. Without a sound he placed himself against one of the support pillars, listening in on whatever conversation they were having.

"... you really should let me and my men spend some time working on the shrine," Tazuna said, "I understand why you're refusing but at this rate it's going to fall down around your head."

"I'll be dead soon enough," he snapped, "Then you can work on the shrine to your hearts content. Until then, leave me to my duties. Now, I doubt you came all of this way to bitch at me about the condition of the shrine. What it is?"

"An Uzumaki has entered the country. He is a ninja from Konoha"

"What?" the man snapped. "Tell me about this ninja."

"He's a boy. Maybe thirteen? Didn't believe it at first, he has blond hair after all."

"Hm. A blond Uzumaki. Interesting. You sure the kid's for real?"

"My daughter talked to his sensei. She didn't get a confirmation out of him, but he didn't deny anything either."

"That's not much of a basis."

"And it seems that every other word out of the brat's mouth is 'Dattebayo'."

"Dattebayo," he chuckled, "Alright. I'll bite. He have a name?"

"Uzumaki Naruto," Tazuna replied.

"Naruto!" the priest laughed, "Alright. Send me this Uzumaki Naruto from Konohagakure. I'm going to see what he's made of... but first..." he coughed and released a spike of killing intent that was almost enough to send Sasuke to his knees. "Boy! You know it's rude to eavesdrop!"

Sasuke's eyes went wide. Shinobi!

Sasuke turned about to flee, only to find himself running right into the chest of the old man.

Not expecting the obstacle, Sasuke was sent sprawling, landing on his bottom looking up at the displeased features of the old coot. He felt a lump rise in his throat as he met Shingi's harsh gaze with his own, sending a deathly chill running down his spine.

This was not good.


	7. Chapter 7

Sasuke paused to take in a deep breath before taking a long sip of the luxurious beverage that sat before him.

The tea was excellent, Sasuke reflected. It was very aromatic with just the right hint of sweetness. It was brewed perfectly. Seeped to that perfect moment that allowed it to capture the full essence of the leaves without becoming bitter.

It was simply put, the best Jasmine tea he'd had in a very long time.

He let out a deep sigh and allowed his normally schooled features to settle into a content smile. After all, there was nothing quite like a relaxing cup of tea after a long day of training to help one center themselves.

He slowly smiled at the other two figures sitting around the table with him. Tazuna, the philistine, seemed to be unappreciative of the tea. Probably wishing that it was warm sake or some distilled spirit that was overpotent to the point of doubling as a disinfectant.

The other was his odd host, Oshinami Shingi. He refused to be called by any honorifics, seemingly taking offense to any form of politeness directed towards him. In turn, while he was extremely gruff, he managed to combine his grizzled nature with a humble form of speech that bordered on self-depreciative. The result was a very odd man who was seemingly polite despite himself. An odd man who made outstanding tea.

He took another sip. An odd man with a very interesting tale to tell.

"And now, Uchiha-sama, you understand why I must speak to Uzumaki Naruto."

"Hm." Sasuke simply nodded in affirmation.

He did agree. Completely. It actually shocked him to even think it, but Naruto needed to speak to this man almost as badly as he needed to kill That Man.

He took a sip, savoring it.

And for many of the same reasons.

"I find it almost hard to believe that Naruto has so much depth to him. I guess we're more alike than I once believed," Sasuke admitted, before pausing, "Though please don't tell him I said that." His lip lifted into a slight smirk, "I have appearances to keep after all."

"Don't worry, Uchiha-sama." The old man grinned. It was terrifying. "Your secret is safe with me."

He smiled and then looked at Tazuna, "It's fortunate that I suspected you. It will be far less suspicious for me to bring him here."

Tazuna scowled. "Are you saying I'm suspicious?"

Sasuke merely tapped his tea cup and gave the man a long suffering look. Seriously?

The old man paused for a moment and sighed, "Yeah, now that I think about it, I can see how an old man asking a young boy to sneak off into the deep woods with him would..."

"Be like the kind of thing our academy sensei warned us to be careful about when we were six," Sasuke added with a slight smirk. Even the last of the Uchiha couldn't say no to a target that easy.

Tazuna flushed and stammered somewhat. Shingi on the hand chuckled in amusement. It sounded like grinding rocks.

"So, you're Uzumaki Naruto's teammate," Shingi observed, "I've told you why Tazuna-san's here and why I want to speak to Uzumaki-sama, but tell me about him. I want to know who I'm dealing with. Do not wish to accidently antagonize him."

Sasuke paused to think for a second and took another slip. He considered it for a moment. There really was a familiarity to the blend that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"I want Tazuna to leave," he stated.

Tazuna blinked. "Hey brat, what the hell do you mean by..."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed somewhat. "I consider this need to know. You don't."

The bridge builder sighed and stood up, "I get it. I get it. More ninja stuff. I guess I'll meet you back on the road or something..."

As Tazuna left, Sasuke added, "I'm not going to tell you anything that I believe to be sensitive information."

The old man nodded in response. "Of course. You're a ninja and you must maintain suspicion. I doubt you'll tell me anything I won't pick up within five minutes of meeting him but those first five minutes are critical for forming a positive first impression."

"He's an orphan," Sasuke began with all the calm collection of a ninja issuing a mission debriefing, "I doubt he knows anything about his clan. If he did he wouldn't be able to shut up about it. He's extremely loud and overconfident, and when his... beliefs are challenged, his normal response is to act even more obnoxious. His dream is to be Hokage."

The grizzled priest rubbed his chin. "How old was he when he was orphaned?"

Sasuke frowned for a moment. "I believe he was orphaned during the Kyuubi attack."

Shingi frowned deeply and asked the first of two more questions. "Does he know the identity of his parents?"

Sasuke frowned in thought. He didn't really know the answer to the first, though if he had to make a guess he'd say no. Knowing Naruto's personality and taking in account his ignorance of his own clan, something that to the eyes Uchiha was downright criminal, and the fact he never talked about them. "I do not believe so."

The old man's brow furrowed. "And how is he seen by the rest of the village?"

Sasuke took another sip of tea and glanced at it before closing his eyes and taking a deep smell. He knew that scent was one of the most primal sense possessed by man and he let the impression of it sink in. He recognized this scent. His eyes burst open and he looked at the old man carefully. "I will answer that question if you answer one of mine."

"Yes, Uchiha-sama?"

"Where did you learn to make tea like my mother used to make it," he all but demanded.

The old man smiled. Frankly, Sasuke wished he hadn't. It was an unnatural sight that could probably frighten small children. "The question should be where did you mother learn to make the Uzumaki special blend?"

Sasuke blinked. "Special blend?"

He nodded. "That's a minor clan secret you're drinking and is only taught to those considered close friends or allies. Your mother must have been close friends with an Uzumaki to have been taught the secret."

Sasuke blinked. That was not the answer he had expected, though as the old man had answered him, he would do so in turn. He paused for a moment, finishing his cup while thinking back. "On the whole they are passively antagonistic," he replied, coolly, "Before I thought it had to be for a reason, possibly with a familial connection due to his general silence on the subject, but now I know that's not the case."

The old man nodded and his face twisted into a deep scowl. "I see." he rubbed his chin, "Makes sense all things considered."

"How?" Sasuke asked.

"That is not my business to tell," he replied before quickly changing the subject "I thank you for your time, Uchiha-sama."

Sasuke nodded. He'd have to consider that deeply. There had to be a reason why they hated Naruto and if it wasn't his clan, it had to be something else. The old man obviously had figured it out based on the information he'd given which meant that he should probably be able to do the same.

Anyways, it was getting late. Slowly he stood up, but before he could move to leave, the old man coughed bringing his attention back to the priest.

"Please return with Uzumaki-sama whenever you feel is convenient. I shall be waiting," he paused for a moment before adding, "And when you do return, I'll be sure to teach you how to make a proper cup of tea."

- 7 -

"Absolutely not," Kakashi stated in a level, matter of fact tone.

Haku blinked in surprise. What?

"I will absolutely not recommend them for entrance to Konohagakure. My believe is that these three do not have what it takes to become ninja of the Leaf."

Haku frowned. While she considered them, in all honesty, a matched set of boneheads it was her belief that they had some ability as ninja. Not much, but some. Otherwise Zabuza would never seen find to take them on as his subordinates. She took a breath and prepared to say as much but she was cut off before she could speak.

"We are dead!" Kari cried out, frantically. "We are so dead!"

"Oh, relax," Rari said nervously, "All we need is a plan! Mou's always got a plan, right?"

"Nope, I'm pretty much with mochi brains over here. We're screwed. I've got nothing."

"What the hell are you doing, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto chimed in, "You're asking Haku to abandon her comrades and those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum!"

"I know. And by their own admission, these three are worse than scum," His eye narrowed. "When they believed Haku to be captured, what did they do?"

Naruto blinked. "They ran?"

"Exactly," Kakashi replied. "They willfully chose to abandon a comrade to the custody of an enemy. Instead they spent time they should have used to plan and prepare for a rescue mission to burglarize Gato's office and flee."

Haku paused and glanced at the three. Well, yes. There was that, she admitted to herself.

"But you're a Jonin!" Mou exclaimed, "And you got Mr. 'One Man Army' here with you!"

"What does that matter?" Kakashi asked calmly and without emotion, "A trio of Genin can find a way to get around even a Jonin if they put their minds to it. This is especially true of a team consisting entirely of members of the infamous Tesaki clan."

"Tesaki clan?" Naruto replied, "What do you mean?"

"The Tesaki clan of Kirigakure are infamous in the ninja world," Kakashi replied, darkly. "Their clan has never produced any famous shinobi and their members tend to be mediocre ninja. They have no jutsu of their own worth mentioning and real ability or talents save one: they steal."

"Hey, we got some skills and jutsu!" Mou exclaimed.

"Come on, Mou, don't piss off the Jonin," Kuri warned, nervously.

Mou smacked his brother on the head and growled out, "Shut up you," then glared at Rari, daring him to say, before turning back to Kakashi.

"You know a guy they call the Copy Cat is the last guy who should act so high and mighty about stealing! Hell, your village was cofounded by the freckin' Uchiha, right?"

"I graduated the academy at five. I became a Chunin at six. I made Jonin at age twelve," Kakashi hissed, "I was a prodigy in my own right long before I was given this eye. As for the Uchiha, even without the Sharingan they were still gifted ninja. Your clan on the other hand has never had any tool, any ability, that was not first snatched from the hands of far more worthy shinobi."

He paused.

"But ultimately all of that is inconsequential because you didn't even bother to try. If you had you'd have seen that she wasn't a prisoner. All you had to do was look, but instead you looted the hideout and ran. You abandoned your comrade without even a second thought," Kakashi took a deep breath, and looked at them with complete contempt, and with all the weight of a judge delivering a final verdict, he said, "You three are lower than scum and as far as I am concerned, you're not worthy of being ninja."

Haku frowned. "While I admit I am not... personally fond of these three they are now my subordinates which means I am responsible for them. I cannot in good conscience abandon them."

"Yeah, well we don't like you much either," Mou snapped, before glaring at Kakashi, "You know, you keep going on and on about abandoning our comrades but since when has Haku been our comrade?"

Haku recoiled as if struck. That was why they abandoned her so quickly, because she was no longer of use to them? She could understand. She'd been happy to be Zabuza's tool. To be his to use and discard as he saw fit, but being seen as a tool by these three was different. It was somewhat insulting really. Zabuza was an excellent ninja who had pulled her from nothing. They were just three idiots who never would have amounted to anything without her sensei's mentorship.

Of course, on top of the insult was the injury. Yes, they'd seen her as a tool and when she'd become a liability they discarded her. She'd long expected this, only she'd always expected to not survive the process. But she had, and now she was quickly coming to realize that being discarded hurt.

"Enough!" Kakashi stated harshly, "You are of course well within your rights to accompany us to Konoha and appeal my decision directly with the Hokage, but this discussion is over."

- 7 - 7 -

What the hell was going on here? Sasuke wondered to himself as he looked into the living room of Tazuna's house.

The drunk had, of course, decided to go to the bar and have a celebratory drink. After all, the town was still reveling in Gato's defeat and the man apparently needed alcohol the way normal people need water and oxygen.

He'd decided not to babysit the old man and went back to the house. He'd expected to see Sakura but she was nowhere to be found. Instead when he went inside he found Naruto and Haku sitting across from the table from three almost identical looking Kiri ninja. The tension in the air was so thick it could have been cut with a knife.

He'd been hoping to simply slip in, taunt the moron a bit, and drop a couple hints that they needed to do some training in the woods tomorrow. Instead he'd walked into this shit.

Naruto looked stuck somewhere between shock and rage. Haku looked lost. And the three Kiri nin? Well they looked like they'd just been diagnosed with some form of terminal disease.

Which also raised the question of who the hell were these people?

After a moment he decided to articulate his feelings of the matter in the most clear and concise manner he considered appropriate.

"Huh?"

Slowly, Naruto turned and glanced up at him. "Oh, it's you. What do you want, douchebag?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "How about you begin by telling me who they are, dumbass." He glanced at the trio of ninja.

"Oh they're..."

"Excuse me!"

Sasuke looked behind himself and stepped out of the way as a clone of Naurto ran past him holding a sealing scroll.

"Coming through!" the clone exclaimed before sliding to a stop in front of Naruto. "I got the change, here you..."

"Give it to Kakashi," Naruto snapped. "He's in his room."

"You sure boss?"

"Tell him I don't want his filthy money."

Sasuke blinked. The fuck?

"Uh, okay..." the clone slowly slipped away looking extremely confused.

"Alright, moron, who the hell are they?"

"Zabuza's genin team," Naruto muttered.

Sasuke frowned. That had to have sucked.

"Yeah, I know," Naruto muttered, "That's how I felt when I heard."

"How do you think we felt..." one of the trio muttered, "Hi kids, here's your new sensei, the Demon of the Mist. Try not to die!"

"Don't speak ill of Zabuza-sama!" Haku snapped.

"Oh shut up. You weren't much better! It it wasn't Psycho-sensei, then it was his creepy sidekick!"

"C-creepy sidekick?!" Haku flushed.

"Yeah! You dressed like a girl, told everyone you were a guy, and told everyone you were his tool!"

"Yeah. Left us wondering if Zabuza had any strange fetishes we had to worry about..."

Haku jumped to her feet. "If you three disrespect his memory one more time I'll..."

"You'll what?"

Sasuke activated his Sharingan as one of the brothers began to run through a series of hand signs...

Boar

Dog

Bird

Monkey

Ram

...but whatever technique he was looking to perform was halted when feminine screech rattled through the building from outside.

Sasuke blinked. Again, "Huh?"

The door to their Sensei's room slid open and he walked past looking surprisingly cheerful, ignoring the baleful looks he was getting from basically everyone, and twirling the scroll that Naruto's clone had brought him only moments before. "That must be Sakura-chan!"

The door crashed open and the sight he saw would stick with him for the rest of his life. It was Sakura, red faces, wild eyes, and more exhausted than he'd ever seen her. She was quivering where she stood, struggling with each step and panting like a dog left in the summer sun. She was coated head to toe in mud, sand, and algae while body was soaked with odorous combination of sweat and stagnant salt water that could probably curdle milk.

Slowly, and carefully, she stepped in fighting to keep upright and awake.

Sasuke blinked in shock. "Sakura?"

"You're late!" Kakashi remarked. "How was your run?"

"I... I couldn't finish," she gasped. "I don't know how I... got all this way..."

"Ah," Kakashi said with a serene smile, "I've heard of cases like this. Sometimes the will is so strong that it can drive your body forward even when your mind has shut down from exhaustion. I have to compliment your dedication, but next time I want you to come back on time and fully conscious."

She went ghost white, leaving Sasuke to wonder what he'd ordered her to do. "Next time?"

"Ma ma, don't think of that..." Kakashi replied, waving it off. "I got something special for you. After all that hard work you could probably use a hearty meal."

She flushed. "N-no no, sensei. I'll be fine with some rice and vegetables..."

Kakashi flipped open the scroll and unsealed the contents. Inside was something Sasuke hadn't expected. Two full tonkatsu platters. Large ones with all of the fixings. Even, he noted with a greedy eye, small salads each of which was graced with several delicious looking cheery tomatoes.

"Thought you'd be hungry so I make sure to get this especially for you..."

Sakura looked at it, almost hypnotized for a long moment, drool slowly running down her chin before a great sound resounded through the room. It was like some great beast, some monster from the pits of hell had awoken and was ready to lay waste to the realm of mortals. It came from Sakura's stomach.

The girl leapt for the table, pushing two of the Kiri genin out of her way as she assaulted one of the breaded pork cutlets with the savagery of a starving animal. Forgoing utensils and any semblance of etiquette, meat and rice vanished down her gullet at blinding speeds as she tore into her meal with wild abandon.

Even without the perfect recall of his bloodline he'd have remembered the sight until his dying day. Her green eyes had almost glowed with an unholy fire and with the filth and fatigue laid upon her combined with the savage need embodied by her feeding frenzy, she looked like some kind of demon.

And all the while, sitting off to the side, completely neglected were the salads.

A small rumble resounded through Sasuke's own stomach. While he'd had a very pleasant cup of tea, he hadn't eaten since lunch and he could use maybe just a little something as a pick me up.

Glancing side to side, he slowly snaked his hand forward, intent on claiming one of the tiny red treasures for his very own. After all, who would miss one little tomato...

Sakura growled like an animal before grabbing one of the chopsticks laying discarded off to the side. Her speed was beyond anything he'd ever thought her capable of. He was fortunate to have still had his Sharingan active for even with it, he was only just able to keep his hand from getting spiked to the table.

"Mine!" her voice was low, guttural, and somewhat terrifying.

Needless to say, he kept his hands to himself from then on.

Seeing that her food was safe, with a pretense at dignity, she wrenched the chopstick from the table, and taking the other in hand, she delicately ate the very tomato he'd been targeting in an unwitting parody of barbarian civility.

Kakashi simply leaned back and smiled with pride.

- 7 - 7 - 7 -

To say that Uzumaki Naruto was in a foul mood would be something of an understatement.

To say that it was an understatement would be an understatement.

Actually, to say that it being an understatement was an understatement would be an... well... you get the point.

Today had started out fun, gotten interesting, and rapidly turned to shit.

It had been so great at first. He'd helped Haku put on her breast bindings, which he had to admit was amazing. He's learned new jutsu and had been promised even more new Jutsu. He'd found out his awesome pranking skills were equally awesome ninja skills, and he'd met three guys who while kinda, well, idiots were actually kind of fun.

Then Kakashi's burst in, ruined it all, and it turned out those three guys were kind of jerks. Haku was upset, they were depressed, and he wanted to scream. And worse of all. Worst of all, that douchebag asshole prick bastard of a teammate of his was simply sitting off to the side looking all so smug.

Naruto glared at Sasuke for a moment who simply shook his head.

"Dumbass, I need you on task tomorrow," he said bluntly. "Maybe rather than sitting around feeling sorry about yourself you should do something about it."

"No shit," Naruto growled. Literally growled. He swore if he was any more annoyed he'd probably be leaking the Kyubi's chakra. "You got any ideas, asshole?"

"How do you it's not my problem, moron," Sasuke replied, as he stood up. "Just do it. And don't expect me to sit through your pity party."

Naruto blinked. Well, he doubted he'd be getting any sympathy from Sasuke. But as much as he wanted to punch the smug clear off his face, it utterly gauled him that Sasuke was right.

He glared Sasuke left to the guest room that he was sadly being forced to share with the prick, and then turned his eyes to the three Mist genin.

"What's your problem?" Naruto exclaimed. "What the hell do you mean Haku-chan was never your comrade?!"

Mou sneered, "What? You need to screw your ears on or something? She never was. Hell, she never even told us she was a girl! How's that for trust?"

"That was on Zabuza's orders," Haku replied, glaring back. "It was not my decision."

"Yeah, come on, Mou," Rari said, "Give her a break..."

"You want a break?" Mou asked.

"Yeah!"

Mou punched Rari in the face.

"Argh! My nose!"

"There's your break."

"Stop this foolishness immediately!" Haku exclaimed.

"Or what," Mou replied, "We did what you said because Psycko-sensei would of killed us if we didn't, and now the bastard's dead."

Haku clenched her fist, but Naruto quickly moved his hand on top of hers.

"Don't be such a jerk!" Kuri explained, "Nyah! Listen, Haku, I know you were Zabuza-sensei's..."

"Uke," Mou interjected.

Naruto twitched. How the hell did that work? Haku's a girl!

Haku growled. "Mou, if you say another word, I'll kill you myself."

"Go ahead!" he exclaimed, "We're fucking dead anyways! We've been screwed since our team assignment was handed out!" He pointed his finger at her, "You know, up until you caught us we were home free. But I guess you just had to fuck us over just one more for old time's sake..."

"Come on," Naruto cut in, "No-brows was a strong ninja! I'm sure he had lots to teach you."

"Yeah, he did," Kuri replied, with a frown, "But doesn't mean he ever taught us any of it."

Haku scowled, "Your inability to learn what Zabuza-sama had to teach was hardly his responsibility."

Mou rolled his eyes, "The hell would you know, Dakimakura-chan..."

Naruto twitched. Alright. That's it.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

In a burst of smoke, a half dozen Naruto's had pulled Mou away from the table and were beating him into a pulp. Punches and kicks flew with abandon and his clones took to laying into the loud mouthed jerk.

The door to Tsunami's room slid open and the woman glared at them. "Naruto! What are you doing? Cease this nonsense immedarly!"

Naruto flushed and the clones burst. "Sorry, Tsunami-neechan..."

"Ugh," Moe groaned, "Thanks lady..."

She crossed her arms. "And why did you feel it was necessary to start a fight in my house?"

"Well, he called Haku-chan 'Dakimakura-chan'..."

Tsunami blinked, paused, and then glowered at Mou. "Next time, take him out side of the house..."

Moe's eyes went wide. "Hold on a..."

Tsunami glared at him. It was that really scary glare that she used when Kakashi-sensei did something stupid and perverted.

Mou shut up.

"We will remember that, Tsunami-san," Haku replied, a small smile on her face as she gave Mou a promising look. The promise in his case being one of pain.

Mou glared impotently in response.

"Ah, don't give her that look," Kari interjected, "You had that one coming..."

Mou growled at his brother and lifted his fist. "You want to see something coming?"

Naruto coughed to get the other Genin's attention and formed the hand seal for the Kage Bunshin with a small smile on his face. Mou quickly lowered his fist and seemingly deflated.

"So, Mou, did you actually have a point?" Haku asked coolly.

"All Psy..." Naruto coughed again. "Zabuza-sensei ever really did was chase us around with his sword, let you and his dumbfuck fanboys use us as punching bags, our drill us on the sealing arts."

"That's because you three are useless with any of the standard shinobi skills," Haku replied, "Your coordination is awful, your chaka is weak, your ability to cooperate is hampered by the fact that the three of you bicker like infants, and the less said about your ability with a sword the better..."

That's because should have never been a team," Kari cut in, rubbing his nose.

Karu gawked, "Rari, why do you mean? Don't say that!"

"I've done a lot of thinking about this," he admitted, "I mean look at us. Three members of the same clan all with the same skill set on a single team. Not exactly ballanced."

Mou nodded. "For once, the bonehead here's right about something."

Haku frowned. "Alright, Rari, please explain."

"We're all members of the Tesaki clan," he continued, "We're the clan who sealed the Sanbi into Yagura. Zabuza-sensei never really wanted us as a team, he just wanted access to the stuff we knew. He had you force us to cram our family arts..."

Naruto frowned for a moment. "Wait, didn't you guys say something about the Uzumaki?"

"Um. I mean the sealing arts... Um... well... he made us steal a diagram of Yagura's seal and cram until we could understand at least some bits of it..."

"That's right!" Kuri added in, "Then he forced to to try and make him a counter seal and use it to try and kill the Mizukage!"

Mou frowned. "We were never anything to him. We were just tools to be used, just like her..." he glanced at Haku.

"Haku wasn't a tool!" Naruto cut in, "He cared about her!"

"Well good for Haku," Mou snapped. "He didn't give a fuck about the three of us."

"He protected you," Haku replied, "And believe it or not he did attempt to teach you. If he had considered you that disposable do you really think he would have bothered to protect you all this time? Do you really think he would have put up with your nonsense for this long?"

"Doesn't change the fact that because of him we've lost our home and family," Kuri said bitterly, "He didn't ask for our help. He forced us and we lost everything."

Kuri nodded. "And you never, ever, really tried to be our friend. All you ever did was scream at us for Zabuza-sensei!"

"Yeah," Mou nodded. "I've heard you go on and on about your precious people crap a couple times. Well, Haku, were we ever your 'Precious People', or were we just three stooges you kept an eye on for 'Goshujin-sama'."

Naruto gritted his teeth. Alright asshole, you've been warned. He pulled his hands into his trademark hand seal but was cut off when Haku grabbed his hands.

"What?"

"He's right," Haku admitted, "And I am ashamed to admit it. I did not realize."

"Yeah, well you were too busy following around Psycho-sensei, sniffing his ass like a lost bit..."

Haku let go of Naruto's hands.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

- 7 - 7 - 7 -

Pakkun silently hopped through the open window to find the Jonin casually reclining and reading one of his books. Sparing a glance, Kakashi shifted his gaze back to the book and turned the page.

"You know, you could at least look at me when I give you a report," Pakkun snarked. Seriously, Kakashi was so damned lackadaisical about everything. It was probably why he didn't let him touch the pads of his cute little paws. That was earned.

"Ma ma, Pakkun, Sasuke's back alive and well so I know he didn't run into anything that dangerous," he turned the page again, "Still, anything interesting to report?"

"Yes, actually," Pakkun replied.

Kakashi glanced up and closed his book, moving to a more focused stance. He was actually paying full attention now. Not that he wasn't aware before. Seriously, the man fought better than most nin could ever hope to while nose deep in pornography.

"He was trailing Tazuna-san," Pakkun replied, "They skirted the edge of the swamp for several miles before reaching a dilapidated shrine. There he met the shrine priest, an equally dilapidated old man. They conversed for a moment, but when Sasuke moved in closer he was intercepted by the priest."

"Hm," Kakashi thought, "Retired shinobi?"

"That is my guess," Pakkun replied, "He used Shunshin no Jutsu to cut off Sasuke's retreat and then after a moment's conversation, marched him into the shrine."

Kakashi scowled. "Was Sasuke in any danger?"

"If he had been I'd have come back for you," Pakkun replied, "They seemed to just be drinking tea. He wasn't under any duress. If anything the boy seemed to be enjoying himself."

Kakashi nodded. "I see. What would you say his skill level was?"

"He performed the Body Flicker without the use of hand seals, but I didn't see any other jutsu performed."

"Tokujo or higher," Kakashi observed, considering the information, "Were you detected?"

Pakkun paused for a moment and then shook his head. "Doubt it.. Considering the speed at which he caught Sasuke, there was a high probability of detection seals. I kept my distance. I didn't know if they'd pick up a ninken, but I didn't want to have to explain myself."

Kakashi leaned back and nodded. "Alright. So, nothing out of the ordinary?"

"Tazuna left a few minutes before Sasuke, but they seemed to just be talking. When Sasuke left he seemed to be in a better mood than I've seen him," Pakkun paused and thought back to his impression of Sasuke, "Well, ever..."

"You think he's authentic?" Kakashi asked.

Pakkun nodded again. "Yes. I did a sweep out of the area. No signs of movement via any of the standard shinobi vectors and there was absolutely no sign of the priest's scene outside the grounds.

Kakashi simply nodded. "Doesn't seem like anything's amiss."

Pakkun nodded. He knew it that was not uncommon for shinobi who wish to turn away from the ninja lifestyle retire to the priesthood, often due to disillusion, trauma, or simple age. Trading in one's hitai-ate for a priests robes was one of the most reliable ways to leave a village without being declared a missing nin. Abusing that trust was also one of the fastest ways to earn the ire of not just the targeted nation, but the shinobi world as a whole.

"Though I'll have to stop by and share a cup of tea with the old man just to get his measure."

Pakkun nodded. Of course, while it might be a culturally accepted means of retirement, it didn't mean that you weren't careful. Ninja must be ninja after all.

- 7 - 7 - 7 - 7 -

Her head was aching, her lungs were burning, her legs felt like they've been flayed to the bone. Her everything hurt.

My world is pain.

Those were the words floating through Sakura's head as she floated in the bathtub like a dead fish. Had she been able to see herself, she'd have been reminded of her late but not forgotten pet, Kingyo-san who'd been lost to childish inattention when she was five.

What happened? How had she come to this horrible state? She was simply too fatigued and in too much pain to think properly. She couldn't wrap her mind around everything, forcing her to walk herself through it step by step.

With nothing but a casual smile and a nod her sensei had sent her on that death run. The sadist had obviously been aware of but unconcerned with the pain and suffering it would cause her. She'd run herself raw. She'd gotten all sweaty and stinking and fallen into the swamp! And then sensei had given her that food and she'd been so hungry she went crazy!

She hated her sensei for what he'd done! That food had been so fatty she wouldn't even be able to eat tomorrow without ruining her diet! And... And...

And even worse. Sasuke had seen her in that horrid state.

Her eyes went wide as she was filled with horror. Oh Kami. Sasuke.

She actually started to cry as she realized what had happened. She'd almost hurt Sasuke! She's almost stabbed him in the hand with a chopstick over a stupid tomato!

"Kakashi-sensei!" She sobbed, "You bastard!"

Because of him Sasuke would hate her! He'd ruined everything!

"Things just can't get any worse!" she bawled, before pausing for just a moment as a strange sensation ran down her back.

What was that ominous feeling?

- 7 - 7 - 7 - 7 - 7 -

"And then after I got finished kicking Mou's ass, my clones drug him back into the house and we had a talk!" Naruto exclaimed, "Everybody decided to give it another try! I mean, Haku said that she'd try seeing them for them and to protect them for real and not just because Zabuza said so and they said that they'd try and see her for her and not just as Zabuza's... well... 'creepy sidekick'. So it turns out that it was just a giant misunderstanding because none of them saw each other as friends!"

Kakashi sighed. Here he'd been, peacefully reading his book and then his favorite Genin, not that he'd ever tell him that, burst in and went into a long rant about the conversation he'd had with the idiot brothers and his hot girlfriend.

"No,"

Naruto looked shocked. "Oh, come on, Kakashi-sensei! Please! Give them another chance! Please!"

"No."

"But they're friends now and they're not really lower than scum at all!" Naruto was starting to look desperate.

"No."

Naruto looked at him in shock. "W-why not."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed as old resentment started to well up from inside him. "I wasn't aware that a Jonin was required to explain his logic to his subordinates. In fact, the Shinobi code clearly stated the contrary."

Naruto's look of betrayal made him fight a wince. But then the boy spoke, and that really made him grit his teeth. "Then I guess I'm trash, aren't I Kakashi-sensei," Naruto replied, "But if I did what you said, then I'd be worse than trash, so here I am. Why?" he explained, "Why won't you change your mind?"

Kakashi stood in place for a long moment and then sighed, "The Tesaki clan," he admitted, "I despise them more than any others and will never be able to trust any of its members."

Naruto blinked. "Wait, you hate them because of their family?"

He nodded. "Yes. Your family in many way shapes who and what you are, not only as ninja but as people in general. To me, in my mind, there is no family, no single clan of ninja in the entirety of the Elemental Countries as cruel, as dishonorable, or as loathsome as the Tesaki clan. I cannot in good conscious suggest that three members of that clan be permitted to..." he paused for a moment before almost spitting the word, "Defile Konohagakure by becoming Ninja of the Leaf."

Naruto was silent for a long moment and for a split second Kakashi hoped that Naruto would understand his feelings and let it drop.

He should have known better.

"W-what did they do, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi sighed and closed his eye. He took a deep breath and fought down the emotions welling up from inside him. This was not something he wished to talk about, rather it was something that had haunted him for years. It was one of the things that had made him into the man he was today and not for the better.

"Naruto, let me tell you about one of my teammates. Her name was Nohara Rin..."


	8. Chapter 8

"Nohara Rin?" Naruto wondered aloud. Why the hell was Kakashi bringing up one of his teammates at a time like this. "Alright, what about her?"

"She's dead," Kakashi replied cooly, "Just like everyone else I've ever cared about."

Naruto grimaced. "What happened?"

"During the last shinobi war she was captured as part of a Kirigakure plan to destroy Konoha," Kakashi began.

Naruto blinked. The last Shinobi war? "That had to have been," Wait, when was the last Shinobi war again? And which was it again? "A really long time ago!"

"I'm not that old," Kakashi replied, "But if you must know, we were not much older than you are now."

Naruto grimaced. Dying that young, before you even had a chance to live? That had to suck! He wouldn't let any of his precious people die like that! He still had to become Hokage! Haku had to help him get there! Sasuke still had to rebuild his clan! Sakura still had to do... well... whatever it was Sakura wanted to do that didn't involve fangirling over the Douchebag.

"Anyways," Kakashi continued, "Rin was captured by Ninja of Kirigakure who intended on using her as part of a plot to destroy the village."

"How?" Naruto asked.

"By turning her into the Jinchuriki of the Sanbi no Kame and then unleashing the beast inside the village."

Naruto went agape. "Your teammate was like me?"

"No," Kakashi replied, "The Yondaime designed your seal to protect the village and contain the Kyubi inside you so it wouldn't be able to escape cause trouble for anyone, yourself included. Rin's seal was different, like..."

Kakashi paused for a moment and reached into his pack. Calmly he pulled out a storage scroll and an explosive tag.

"This is your seal." he said, holding the storage seal. "Your seal is designed to hold the Kyubi without changing your nature." Then he lifted the other, "This was Rin's. Her seal was designed to contain the Sanbi just long enough to get the beast into a location of their choosing and then explode, consuming the paper which it was written on and all around it in a configuration of pain and destruction."

Naruto turned green. Ever since he found out about the Kyubi his greatest fear had been that it would someday find a way to escape, a way to bring pain and death to all that he held dear. The fact that it would kill him, that was immaterial. The true horror would be the destruction that would then be visited on his loved ones. The idea of sealing a creature like the Kyubi into someone specifically to turn them into a human explosive tag, a living bomb primed and ready to destroy their homes and loved ones? The idea horrified him beyond the ability of language to properly articulate.

"How did she die," Naruto whispered. Part of him didn't want to know, but he had to. Kakashi was wrong. She was like him. That meant that they shared a special bond. He had to know.

Kakashi sighed. "After the sealed the beast inside her, they let her 'escape'. They needed to keep up appearances that they were not up to something so they sent a force of ninjas to hound her all the way back to the village. To make it look like they were trying to get her back."

Naruto frowned. He never heard about a Sanbi attack, so he remained quiet.

Kakashi closed his eyes. "What they didn't take into account is Rin heard a couple of the ninjas who performed the sealing talking about their plan. When she escaped, she refused to go back to the village. She was terrified to the point of irrationality."

Kakashi closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It wasn't hard for Naruto to see the pain on the man's face. He was trying to hide it and failing miserably. "If only she'd thought to trust Minato-sensei," he lamented to himself, "She's still be alive."

"Minato-sensei?"

Kakashi nodded slightly, the unshed tears misting his eyes. "Minato Namikaze. The Yondaime Hokage. My Sensei."

The Yondaime, his hero, was Kakashi's sensei? Okay, maybe the scarecrow was a dick, but he obviously wasn't all bad.

"She was frightened and she decided to protect the village on her own," he said, now almost choking up. "While I was fighting the enemy, she jumped in front of one of my attacks."

Naruto's eyes went wide with shock. "Y-you killed your own teammate."

"Yes."

The only way that this could be worse would be... Naruto grimaced. He could only think of one way for it to be worse. "It was the Chidori, wasn't it?"

Kakashi simply nodded.

Naruto's face twisted into a mask of horror and sympathy. Yeah. He thought so. Had to be. The Kami were kinda dicks like that. Only way to make it worse would be to bury him up to his elbow in her ribcage like with Zabuza, so of course... The very idea of that happening to Sakura or even Sasuke made him want to scream.

"Your sensei could have saved her," he asked.

"I believe so," Kakashi replied, "There were ways to remove the seal without letting the beast loose. Theoretically Minato-sensei could have turned her from this..." he lifted the explosive tag, "To this" he lifted the scroll, "Without killing her."

Naruto closed his eyes, "It was the Tesaki clan, wasn't it?" he looked up, "They're the ones who did it, right?"

"Yes, it was their plan, their idea, and their execution," Kakashi took a deep breath, and naruto could feel his melancholy slowly turning into a seething rage. "And of course, they did not target her by accident. Rin was very close to... one of Kiri's most terrible enemies of the time and student of the man who was then the most probable candidate for Yondaime. What they did to Rin was their grand attempt to prove themselves to be an invaluable asset to Kiri..."

Naruto blinked. "I guess that didn't work out too well."

"It humiliated both their clan and the Mist. The concessions they had to make to get the Sanbi back were rather extreme as well," Kakashi's eye narrowed, "But worthless papers and hollow agreements are no replacement for the price we paid."

"I see," Naruto replied, sadly looking down. "You hate their clan for what they did to you. For what they took from you. Is that it?"

Kakashi said nothing. Naruto looked up, his eyes meeting Kakashi's one.

"You must really hate me, don't you Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi recoiled as if struck. "What? How would you ever think that!"

"The Kyubi," Naruto replied, "It took your sensei from you so you must hate me."

"No!" Kakashi exclaimed, "How could you ever think that?"

"Well, it's the same isn't it?" Naruto asked, "I mean Mou, Rari, Kuri, yeah, I get it their clan are a giant sack of dicks who did something really horrible, but were they even born yet? Even if they were, how is it their fault, they were just babies!"

He stood up and looked down at his sensei. "They have their clan, I have the fox! If you hate them, then you should hate me too, because right now you're being really stupid!"

For what seemed like an eternity the room remained completely silent. But then, slowly, Kakashi began to chuckle. It was a dull, hollow sound that still somehow managed to be almost hysterical.

Slowly, Kakashi stood up and looked down at his student. He remained quiet for what felt like an eternity

Naruto swallowed. Kakashi-sensei wasn't going to hate him, was he?

Slowly Kakashi stood and reached out to his student. Naruto fought the urge to pull away, but Kakashi meant no harm and slowly ruffled Naruto's hair, a smile coming to his face.

"You really are Konoha's most surprising ninja, aren't you?" he said with a smile, "I was expecting..." he paused, then laughed, 'Well, I wasn't expecting you to come in and then tear me down with an actual argument. You're alright, kid."

Naruto beamed. "Does that mean you'll recommend them now?"

"No."

Naruto blinked in utterly confusion. But, but, but... my awesome argument! "Huh?"

"I still don't like them, and I still think they're idiots," Kakashi stated with a smile, "And unless they prove that they're actually capable of something worthwhile I can't give them my recommendation. But I won't recommend against them on general principle either. At this point they can sink or swim based on their own merits."

Naruto sighed.

This was going to be a long night.

- 8 -

Haku sighed and looked at the three brothers. They were sitting outside the house looking at the nighttime swamp in the midst of a conversation. Before she'd just considered them something that was her problem, now faced with the realities of her new existence she was forced to confront them as people to be talked to and not a bother to be managed.

Haku looked over her shoulder at the sound of an opening door. Behind her Tsunami was stepping out onto the deck. Slowly, the beautiful woman glanced over the three and looked to Haku.

"So who are they?" she asked.

"They were Zabuza-sama's genin," Haku replied calmly. "He did not treat them very well."

Tsunami nodded. "I see. I'm running out of room in my house. I wish Kakashi-san would have been more thoughtful."

"I must beg your indulgence, Tsunami-san," Haku replied, "They're here on my account and not Kakashi-san's"

"Yeah, the guy hates us," Kari muttered. "He wasn't even looking at us, he just heard our clan. This sucks. And I thought Konoha was supposed to be soft."

Rari looked over. "Just because they're soft doesn't mean they can't hold a grudge. He really hated us. Whatever happened had to be pretty bad."

"Life sucks, buy a helmet," Mou grumbled, "And stop making noise, you boneheads. I'm trying to think."

"Don't hurt yourself, Mou," Kari replied, with a grin.

Mou glared at his brother and stood up. "Why I oughta..."

"Sit down, Mou," Haku snapped. "You're not helping."

"And here I thought you weren't going to boss us around anymore," Rari observed.

"I still feel its my responsibility to keep you three from doing anything stupid," she replied.

"With these two boneheads, you've got your work cut out for you," Mou snarked.

"Mou, cut it out," Haku sighed. She wanted to say something, to threaten him into submission, but they'd come to an understanding. Plus she didn't want to offend Tsunami-san. She'd try to use civil means to control him, though part of her doubted that would work. Still, it was worth a try. "Please"

"Please," he chuckled and then threw a kunai at a tree."This is the irony isn't it? We finally put our differences to the side and do that whole touchy feely get to know each make nice crap and we're still screwed, aren't we?"

Haku sighed, "Mou, please have some faith in Naruto-kun."

"Yeah!" Kuri replied, "He seems to be a nice kid! He'll talk to him for us."

"Kid'll talk, but I doubt that the old man'll listen," Mou replied.

"Still worth a try," Rari replied, "I mean as long as we stick around with them we're safe. We don't have anything to lose from cooperating."

"Nothing to gain either, 'cept maybe a stay of execution," Mou countered.

"You need to have more faith in Naruto-kun," Tsunami said, joining the conversation, "My son, Inari, had lost all hope but Naruto-kun's words were able to get through to him in a way that no one else could. Though Inari-kun, his strength of character and courage brought hope back to my son and to our entire country," she smiled radiantly, "Naruto-kun is a true Uzumaki and I believe in him, as should you."

"True Uzumaki?" Kari asked, "What is that supposed to mean."

Tsunami slowly sat down next to them and looked over. "The Uzumaki clan were once..."

The door burst open and Naruto stuck his head through, "Hey guys!"

"Oh, great, the loudmouth returns" Mou muttered.

Naruto glanced down at Mou, "Hey! Don't be a jerk."

"Yeah! Don't be a jerk!" Rari chimed in, earning a glare from his brother.

"Whatever." Mou sighed, "Lay it on us..."

"Well, I got some good news and bad news!"

"What's the good news!" Rari exclaimed. "Is he going to let us into the village?"

"That ain't his call, bonehead!" Mou snapped, "But a Jonin's got a long of swing so what did he say, kid?"

"Well, he didn't say no...," Naruto paused, "Alright, he didn't say yes either but..."

He was rambling. "Naruto-kun," Haku said calmly looking to help him focus, "What did he say?"

"He said that, well, I managed to convince him not to recommend against you, but he says you have to show you're actually worth letting in. He kind of thinks you're idiots."

Mou groaned, "So we're still fucked then."

"Language!" Tsunami snapped.

Naruto shrugged, "But at least now you can try and show him how awesome you are!"

Rari sighed "Yeah, we're doomed."

- 8 - 8 -

"Hey, dumbass."

Naruto sighed and glared at Sasuke as he prepared to pull on his night cap. "What do you want, douchebag? If you have something to say about the hat, you can go fuck yourself."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Nothing about that. I just some time tomorrow I need to train with you in the woods, alone."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. Sasuke never wanted to train with him. Now, as much as he wanted to kick the smug bastard's ass and prove how strong he really was, he smelled something fishy. "Come on, you think I'm really going to fall for that? What do you really want?"

"I'm serious," Sasuke replied, "You're stronger than I thought." he paused, "Still an idiot but you might actually be worth testing my strength against."

Naruto couldn't help but smile. Sasuke was a first class jerk, but he was his rival, and being acknowledged by him as being a worthy one felt good.

"Alright, bastard, I'd be happy to kick your ass," Naruto replied with a tooth grin.

"Yeah right, moron. Just because I expect you to last long enough to be worth fighting doesn't mean you have a chance," he paused, "Besides, once I'm done beating you like a drum there's something I need to show you."

Naruto's eyebrow peaked. Sasuke wanted to show him something? This had the potential to be either really cool or really stupid.

- 8 - 8 - 8 -

"Hatake-san, I need to speak to you."

Kakashi sighed. Damn it, first Pakkun, then Sakura, then Naruto, now Haku. Couldn't a man live his life vicariously through adult literature in peace?

"Come in," he said in his normal whimsical and lackadaisical tone as he closed his book and placed it out of sight. Not that he was hiding anything, it was just he had appearances to keep up. Reading porn in public was one thing, but in the privacy of his own quarters before bed? Why that might make him look like some kind of pervert!

Slowly the door slid open and the pretty young Kunoichi stepped in. It was a sight that Kakashi found extremely pleasing. She was dressed in her sleeping clothes, just enough cover to keep her from exposing herself and just thin enough to keep him from having to imagine too much. He was not ashamed to say that he opened Obito's eye for a moment to take in the glorious image of blooming femininity before him.

He could only hope that somewhere in the perfect world, Obito was seeing this too. He'd have appreciated it.

"You need something?" he asked as he sat up, a small part of his mind hoping that she was here to act out chapter six of the third volume of Icha Icha Sexy with him. It was one of the five things he wanted to do before he died, right between eating a salt-broiled saury the size of his arm and a threesome with buxom identical twin kunoichi from Kumogakure.

"I apologize for disturbing you at such a late hour, but I needed to speak to you in private," she replied.

Please be here for a reenactment. Please be here for a reenactment! "Oh? What about?"

"I need to speak to you about Naruto-kun."

Denied! "What about him?"

"I trained with him earlier today," she replied as she sat down next to his futon. "And it is my intent to continue to do so."

Kakashi nodded. "And I assume you'd do it even if I told you not to?"

"I'd officially protest to the Hokage once I was accepted in Konohagakure," she replied, "But as you are his sensei I would accept your decision, for now."

"But not before telling Naruto so he could try and annoy me into changing my mind."

Haku smiled. "Of course."

"Devious." Kakashi chuckled. "But don't worry, I have no problem with any of my cute little genin seeking outside instruction as long as it doesn't interfere with his training."

She nodded gently. "May I ask what you are teaching him at the moment?"

Kakashi nodded. "Go right ahead."

There was a pause. The girl expected him to tell her, but she hadn't asked had she? She'd only asked if she could ask. He'd said yes. But she hadn't asked.

Haku frowned.

Kakashi smiled.

"What you are teaching him at the moment?"

And there you go. "Currently I'm focusing on small unit tactics and team building exercises along with low rank missions and group drills and sparring."

Haku frowned slightly. "I see."

His eyebrow peaked. "Is there a problem, Haku-chan?"

"Naruto believes that the only thing you've taught him of any real substance is Tree Climbing."

Kakashi scowled. He had to admit to himself that he felt somewhat insulted. Getting those three to work as anything even resembling a team in a combat situation was damned near miraculous by most standards. "You have to recall that Naruto is somewhat Jutsu mad," he replied calmly.

"I noticed," Haku replied, "He seems to be under the false impression that everything ninja related involves some form of 'awesome jutsu'."

Kakashi had noticed that himself and had several times tried to correct him to no avail.

The girl shook her head, "He didn't even realize that the difference between a prank and a trap was intent."

Kakashi felt his blood freeze in his veins. "You... didn't tell him... did you?"

Haku blinked in confusion. "Of course I did."

"Ugh," Kakashi face palmed and groaned as if he were in pain. "Hokage-sama is not going to be pleased."

"Wait," Haku looked dumbfounded, "What?"

"Hokage-sama issued orders to all ninja Chunin and above in rank that Uzumaki Naruto was not to have that little fact pointed out to him until he'd reached Chunin himself," he replied with a sigh.

Haku's eyes narrowed. "The Hokage was stunting Naruto's growth as a ninja?"

"Not exactly," Kakashi replied, "When he was in the academy, Naruto used to be something of a menace. The Sandaime was extremely pleased when the boy ceased his pranking activities after graduation and wished to give him some time to mature before he realized."

Haku simply shrugged.

Kakashi on the other hand was considering upgrading the security on his apartment. Or possibly moving into a secure vault. Deep under the earth. With only one fortified entrance. That was guarded at all times.

He sighed. "Anything else you taught him?"

She nodded. "Kirigakure no Jutsu. He's also picked up the basic principles of Funryuu no Jutsu."

So, Kirigakure no Jutsu. Useful technique. Nothing destructive but a useful distraction. Considered an academy basic in Kiri. He'd have to teach it to Sakura and Sasuke if only so they didn't feel left behind. "So Naruto was to blame for the massive fog earlier?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"Alright," he smiled, "So what else do you intend for my cute little Genin?"

"His Chakra control is awful," she replied, "I'm going to teach him Water Walking and have offered to teach him Body Flicker if he can produce a single perfect standard clone."

Kakashi nodded. Fair enough. Considering the sorry state of Naruto's chakra control, the others would be ready to learn the technique by the time he got to that point.

"I explained Elemental Nature Transformation to him and demonstrated Mizurappa as an example. If you have any Chakra papers I'd be very thankful."

Nature Training, eh? Might be a bit early, but what the hell. "Yes I do, actually," Kakashi replied, "But I'll test all three of them myself tomorrow. Anything else you picked up on?"

"I believe that his Taijutsu was intentionally sabotaged," she replied grimly.

What?! He knew Naruto was an awful student in the academy but intentionally undermined? His sensei's son? Kakashi's eyes narrowed to slits as his killing intent spiked. If it was true, heads would roll.

"That is a rather severe accusation," Kakashi replied grimly. "I assume you have evidence to back it up."

"I spent some time talking to Naruto about his educational experience," she replied, "I believe that his primary Taijutsu instructor intentionally encouraged him to make mistakes and commit them to muscle memory. While I admit I am no expert in Taijutsu, when I asked him about his 'sloppy' stance, he told me that those were the forms as he was taught them by his sensei."

That didn't make sense. All of his reports, his Taijutsu instructor included stated that the boy was an awful student who barely ever bothered to attend class. Improving his Taijutsu had always been on Kakashi's to-do list after he managed to get Team 7 to function as a team, but... wait.

Look underneath the underneath, Hataki.

"Mizuki," he hissed. His practicals teacher was a traitor to the village. Lying on a academy student report would have been the least of his crimes. Considering his hatred for Naruto, encouraging bad practice wouldn't be a stretch. It was a simple form of sabotage that was both difficult to detect and potentially lethal in the field.

"It's becoming obvious to me that Naruto-kun needs more personal attention than I first believed," Kakashi replied, fighting down a hiss. "I will of course have to independently confirm your suspicions, but thank you for bringing this to my attention."

"You were welcome, Kakashi-san," She paused for a moment, "Though there is one other thing that Naruto said that gave me reason for concern."

"Yes?" Kakashi asked, almost dreading her response.

"He claims that his abilities are effectively self-taught."

Kakashi couldn't help but snort. "You're kidding, right?"

She frowned. "No. He claimed that his academy instructors never took any interest in his education."

"Actually, I've spoken with his primary instructor on the subject," Kakashi replied, "Umino-san claims that Naruto-kun was an academic nightmare. He'd start trouble when faced with anything even resembling lecture."

Haku frowned. "I see. Is he a reliable source?"

Kakashi smiled. "Ask him about 'Iruka-sensei' some time and I'll sure he'll vouch for him himself. Anyways," He cracked his neck, "It's getting late and I need my beauty rest."

Haku nodded. "Of course, Hatake-san. I did not intend to be a bother."

Kakashi smiled. "No bother, just keep up informed as to what you intend to do with my precious student."

"Of course. Good night, Hatake-san."

"Nighty night, Haku-chan!" he said as she closed the door behind her.

Waiting a moment, he smiled and then pulled out his book "Now, where was I?"

- 8 - 8 - 8 - 8 -

Naruto groaned as he was pulled from his sleep by a knock on the door. Ugh. The fuck?

"Excuse me Naruto-kun, but I need to speak with you."

Oh man, it was Tazuna-jiji. Couldn't this wait? He'd just been in the middle of that really awesome dream where Sakura was feeding him ramen out of a bowl the size of a bathtub. Only this time Haku was in it too. And they were naked.

He groaned and rolled over, face down into his pillow, willing with all of his mental strength that the old man would piss off and let him rest. It didn't work.

"Naruto-kun, are you awake?"

"If you don't stop him pounding on the door," Sasuke groaned, "Now answer him already so I can go back to sleep!"

"What a dick," Naruto growled, before looking towards the door. "I am now! What is it?"

"Oh good," the door slid open and Tazuna popped his head in looking right as rain. Considering how much he drank, Naruto had absolutely no idea how he pulled it off. Probably Hair of the Dog or something.

"What do you want?" he grumbled as he rubbed his eyes. Absently he glanced at a window. It was still dark. His eyes narrowed.

"Wait, what time is it?"

"Four thirty in the morning," Tazuna replied.

Naruto paused and scowled. "Why the hell are you waking me up before dawn?"

"Remember what we were talking about the yesterday morning," Tazuna asked with a smile.

"No," Naruto grumbled. It was four thirty in the morning. He's probably need a native guide to find the damned toilet this early. "Remind me."

"About the bridge and you helping," he replied, "Yesterday I talked to your Sensei and..." he smiled and pulled out a scroll. "He told me to give this to you first thing in the morning."

Naruto glared at the scroll. "Since when is this morning?! And what the hell is that!"

"It's a mission scroll, dipshit," Sasuke groaned, "Now shut up before I strangle you with that idiotic hat."

"Hands off the headgear, bastard," he grumbled, "And what the hell do you mean a mission."

"Remember, you said you'd use your clones to help me make up for labor shortages with my bridge?"

Naruto blinked. "I did?"

He didn't remember agreeing to anything! Growling he opened the scroll and looked at it. Lets see. Long term D-rank mission. Yadda yadda yadda. Aid in the completion of the bridge. Et cetera. Et cetera. Et cetera. Et cetera.

He frowned. It all looked in order. He glared. "I hope you don't expect the real me to help you."

Tazuna shrugged. "Your clones'll do just fine, so unless you want to stay here abusing my hospitality until June, you better move it."

Naruto groaned. That was almost two months away! To hell with that. "Alright, Alright!" he growled, "Now go away and let me get dressed."

- 8 - 8 - 8 - 8 - 8 -

Sasuke couldn't help but smirk as he walked in for breakfast. From the looks of things he was the only one of his teammates who didn't look like complete shit.

Unlike Naruto, he'd was able to go back to bed after Tazuna's interruption. His teammate on the other hand looked tired and miserable. Even more amusing he was still dressed in a shockingly bright orange hard hat and tool belt which were had probably been given to him so all of his clones would be similarly equipped.

Sakura on the other hand looked like she'd just crawled herself out of the grave. "Good morning...," she said in a long suffering groan. It was a tone that made Sasuke wonder if she was going to be asking for brains next, much to his eternal amusement.

Even Kakashi looked a bit stressed, his eyes darting from Naruto to the three morons at the table, on edge and awkwardly uncomfortable.

Sasuke on the other hand felt fine. He was calm. He was relaxed. He was talented and good looking and there was nothing not to like. He felt great, and they didn't. Call him a dick, call it schadenfreude, but he actually was pretty okay with that.

"What's the agenda?" Sasuke asked with a smile as he picked up a set of chopsticks. Tsunami-san was a wonderful cook and he'd miss it when he was gone. He hadn't eaten this well for a long time, but he was in a good mood and he didn't want to fuck it up by thinking about why he didn't eat like this every morning.

"I intend to teach Naruto-kun the basics of Water Walking," Haku replied calmly.

And there went his good mood. Why the hell did Naruto get a hot personal trainer and not him? Why did Naruto get all the cute, not useless ones? He'd have to try and fix that when he got back to Konoha. There had to be someone in the village who was half-competent and willing to help him with his training.

"Water walking?" Sakura asked looking up.

"Think you could show all of us?" Sasuke asked. There was no way in hell he wasn't going to try and nudge in on learning another technique.

"Well," Haku thought aloud, "The principles are relatively simple. If Kakashi-san would allow it I can show all three of you."

Naruto pouted. "Oh man, I thought you were going to be giving me super awesome one on one training!"

Haku smiled. "I will tell them how to do it, but I'll help coach you personally."

Sasuke sighed. She was cute, strong, and quiet. Lucky bastard. Why did he get stuck with all of the annoying ones.

"Hey!" One of the idiot trio who he now knew to be Rari, asked over the table, looking at Sakura "You gonna eat that?"

Sakura blinked and then looked down at her meal, which Sasuke noted was completely untouched. "Go right ahead," she replied, "I'm not eating it anyways. I need to stick to my diet."

While she didn't see it, Sasuke noticed Kakashi's eye getting a little bit darker. And back came that happy feeling of it sucks to be you. She was going to regret saying that.

"Ma ma, Sakura-chan," Kakashi said wagging his chop sticks at her. "You better eat up because you've got a long day ahead of you!"

She paled slightly. "I do?"

"Yes," Kakashi replied, "I want you to go help Tazuna-san and Naruto-kun's clones at the bridge by helping them move building materials."

"Alright sensei..." she sighed deeply, obviously relieved.

"Is something the matter, Sakura-chan?"

"No, no," She muttered, "It's alright."

Sasuke fought down a smile. Did he or didn't he. Did he or didn't he.

Fuck it, he did. "She was probably worried that you'd order her to move them all by hand or something."

Sakura's face twisted into a look of complete horror as Kakashi's face twisted into a wide smile.

"You read my mind, Sasuke-kun!" he smiled and turned to Sakura, "Do it."

The sound that came out of Sakura's mouth sounded more like a pig squealing in pain than an actual human word. He'd like to pretend that she'd said something poignant and honest. Something like 'I'm an annoying bitch with a massive forehead and I deserve to suffer', but it was probably something mundane, like 'What' or 'Oh no'.

Kakashi smiled "Good good, now eat up because you've got a long day ahead of you!"

"Yes sir..." she whimpered piteously before slowly starting to consume her meal.

"I'm afraid that Water Walking will have to wait for tomorrow," Kakashi said after a moment.

Haku glanced up and frowned slightly. Naruto on the other hand took this realization much more loudly. "Oh man! Why! I was going to get some super awesome personal training!"

"Oh, you're going to get some special training today, don't worry. Once Sakura-chan gets back from helping out at the bridge I have something special in mind for all of you."

Sasuke noticed his sensei looking over to Haku who gave him a slight nod. She obviously know what that training was. This was interesting.

"But first I need to gauge your abilities," Kakashi continued. "It's come to my knowledge that certain aspects of your education may have been intentionally undermined."

Naruto glanced at Haku agape. "W-what? You told him that?"

"While you are my precious person and it is my pleasure to teach you," she replied "He is your sensei, Naruto-kun. To fail to do so would have been extremely disrespectful."

Sasuke frowned somewhat. So, some asshole had something against Naruto enough to undermine him? Actually that makes sense. Nobody could naturally be that inept.

"So what do you intend to do?" Sasuke asked.

"I want you to fight him," Kakashi replied, "Taijutsu only, sharingan active with the intention of prolonging the fight as long as possible. I'll be watching with my sharingan as well. I want to see exactly where he's at and I'll work out a full remedial training plan for when we get back to Konoha."

Then, he smiled. Sasuke really didn't like that smile.

"Until then I want you to help him out with his basics. You know the core styles. I want to see what you pick up on."

"Kakashi-sensei! Why do I have to learn from that asshole!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. Kakashi, you motherfucker.

"I guess I'll just have to kick his ass and show you how awesome I am."

"Fat chance, failure," Sasuke replied, "And why are you still wearing that stupid helmet and the tool belt? What, you saw that it was eye-bleeding orange and decided it was all you or have you decided to quit being a ninja and take up construction?"

"Hey!" Naruto exclaimed, "I'm gonna have to send in new clones throughout the day so it's best that I form them with the gear already on them!"

"Oh relax," Kakashi interrupted, "Consider it a test for both of you!"

Sasuke sighed. Go fuck yourself with a tetsubo, scarecrow. "Whatever."

- 8 - 8 - 8 - 8 - 8 -

Naruto smiled as the small group walked to the shoreline. Sure, his Taijutsu was flawed, and while he understood it needed to get fixed, he'd gotten a lot stronger than he'd been in the academy. Even with his fancy eyes, he was sure he was going to kick Sasuke's ass in front of everybody!

He paused. Well, everyone except for Sakura. She working on the bridge.

"Alright everyone, here is the perfect location."

Naruto paused and then he scowled. "Here? But we're inside the swamp! We can't fight here!"

Sasuke grunted. "I have to agree with the moron, we won't be able to stand in this mess."

"To the contrary, my cute little students!" Kakashi replied, "We're in the perfect location. The ground here is mostly solid. It's just surrounded by swamp."

"But..." Naruto paused and frowned as he considered it. "But if we mess up we're going into the swamp."

"Then I strongly suggest that you don't miss up," Kakashi replied with zero missed cheer as Sasuke took up position on the other side of the 'clearing'.

"Come on, Dumbass," he taunted, "If you make this quick, I'll try and aim you for the hard spots."

"I'm sure you'll do well, Naruto-kun," Haku said with a smile. Though for some reason, Naruto suspected that her heart wasn't entirely behind that little bit of encouragement.

He frowned. Did everybody think Sasuke was going to kick his ass?

"Oh man, this is going to be pathetic," Mou laughed. "Seriously, Blondy is going to get creamed."

Naruto twitched. Did everybody who mattered think he was going to get his ass kicked?

Kakashi never broke stride as he uncovered his Sharingan eye. "Alright. Sasuke, defend. Begin!"

Naruto gritted his teeth and charged, his arm cocked back and ready to deliver his strongest punch. Alright! All he need was one good hit and...

Sasuke side stepped his attack, grabbed his fist as he punched, and sent him him flying into the drink.

Naruto popped out of the water with an angry burble. That son of a... Wait.

Naruto looked down. The tool belt had dumped part of its contents on landing and his helmet was gone! Shit!

"Oh crap, the tools!" Oh crap! Oh crap! He couldn't do his mission without them!

"Taiju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

"No jutsu, Naruto," Kakashi pointed out.

"I have to find my tools and helmet! My mission!"

"Shouldn't have left them on," he observed. "Your clones can dig around in the muck while you continue."

Naruto sighed and dumped his toolbelt, which sadly was looking a bit light off to the side before turning back to Sasuke. He'd avenge the loss of Helmet-san!

Sasuke just smirked looking twice as smug as normal. With a grunt Naruto ran forward, intent to commit a feint with a punch, then follow up with a high kick, and then... get knocked on his ass when Sasuke literally stepped into his blow, caught his leg on the shoulder, then swept his leg behind Naruto's remaining limb, wrenching his foot out from under him and right onto his lower back, sending him to the ground in a tumble.

Naruto sneered. That was so cheating, and he was going to wipe that stupid grin off of Sasuke's face if it was the last thing he did. With gritted teeth, he jumped to his feet, and attacked.

And attacked.

And attacked.

And so on.

And every time he ended up face down in the mud.

Sasuke smirked, his sharingan all but glowing in the dimply lit woods. "Maybe you should just give up before you hurt yourself."

Naruto grumbled and pulled himself to his feet, spitting out a mouthful of stagnant, disgusting swamp water. Alright, he told himself, I need a plan if I'm going to put this asshole in his place. Those damned cheating eyes of his made every attack to tried to make, no matter how awesome, look completely transparent. He was sure he could kick Sasuke's ass if he could fight him properly, but with Sasuke having the Sharingan and him having no awesome jutsu at all, well, he couldn't go at him directly. He has to be tricky. He had to pull a prank.

Naruto smiled as a plan formed itself in his head. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi looked over, his red eye spinning in his scared socket. "Yes?"

"Can we use stuff like Tree Climbing?"

He shrugged. "If you think it would help."

Naruto nodded and leapt towards Sasuke, charing with all of his speed and might. The other boy just smirked and fell into his stance. Naruto expected that Sasuke would expect him to attack, so he didn't. Instead he jumped up and over him, connecting his feet with an overhanging tree branch before channeling as much chakra into his feet as possible, literally exploding off the branch at high speed as the combination of overloading the tree climbing technique and his own kick off sent him at Sasuke like a rocket.

Sasuke moved to defend, but by this point Naruto was moving faster than he could react to, and the blonde genin was rewarded with the meaty sound of fist on flesh as his punch connected with Sasuke's smug face.

The Uchiha was sent flying into the ground by the force of the blow, dazed by the power of the impact.

Naruto grinned and pumped his fist. "Alright! The tide has turned, asshole. Get ready for for a beat down."

Sasuke grunted and spat out a mouthful of bloody spit. "Lucky shot, moron."

Naruto grinned and moved in to repeat the attack. He knew it wouldn't work but he also knew it would have Sasuke guarding himself from attacks from below. So instead of shooting himself at Sasuke he fired himself into the water next to Sasuke, twisting in mid air so his feet were pointed down when he hit the water.

Then, with his hands formed into the rabbit seal to shape his chakra, he exploded from the swamp, propelled by twin jets of water from his feet as he aimed himself at his rival like a human missile. Again Sasuke was unable to react to the speed of his attack. Of course, Naruto also wasn't able to do much beyond aim himself, the end result was Naruto headbutting Sasuke in the stomach at a truly ludicrous speed.

It hurt, Naruto had to admit. Especially the landing which sent him sprawling, but Sasuke was sent flying and that was what made it worthwhile. It was twice as amusing when the jerk landed in the swamp with a satisfying splash. To say nothing of the look on his face!

Yes! Lets see how you like it!

"Alright! So how did I do, sensei?" Naruto asked with a grin. He was sure that Kakashi would be impressed by his awesome.

"Sasuke, eighteen. Naruto, two," Kakashi replied dryly. "You started to do well once you began to stretch the limits of the spar."

Naruto frowned. "Hey! He had those stupid eyes!"

"Because I told him to tell me what openings he sees," Kakashi replied, "But that doesn't matter anyways."

Naruto blinked feeling not just a little put off. "Huh? Oh come on, that was awesome! Why doesn't it matter."

"That's because while I admit that was very creative, this is spar twenty-one."

Naruto blinked. "So?"

Kakashi smiled. "It means its your turn to defend. Sasuke, if you will..."

Naruto felt a chill go down his spine as he turned towards his rival, who was soaked to be bone, dripping with water and muck, and looking at him with an insane sneer and glowing red sharingan eyes. He could almost see the manic glee on his face.

"Aw, shi..."

- 8 - 8 - 8 - 8 - 8 - 8 -

"I must say we have learned so many useful things today!" Kakashi said with the obnoxiously chipper tone that he loved to take whenever he had been given a chance to torture... teach! Yes, teach! The obnoxiously chipper tone that he loved to take whenever he had been given a chance to teach his subordinates.

Sasuke and Naruto stood at attention, with Sasuke looking quite annoyed, Naruto looking like he'd just gone forty rounds with the a set of nunchucks, and both of them looking thoroughly soaked and miserable. He smiled proudly. My work here is done.

"So, what have we learned today?" He asked never breaking his cheer, nor for a moment.

"Naruto really sucks."

"The Sharingan is bullshit."

The two both spoke at once, and as one they turned to the other, their baleful glares both promising death. Horrible, painful, torturous deaths punctuated by maniacal laughter.

"Oh, what wonderful observational abilities you have, my darling students," he exclaimed, completely ignoring their bickering. "And now comes the second part of your training!"

"Second part," Sasuke restated in a tone so dry it wouldn't have been out of place in Sunagakure.

"Of course,"Kakashi replied, "Now, while I am going to take what I've learned to figure out a training program for Naruto-kun I wouldn't like to get between that sacred bond between team mates that bonds the two of you like brothers."

"What."

Naruto glanced over at Sasuke, "Considering your brother, maybe he's onto something."

Kakashi was almost impressed by the speed of Sasuke's punch. It had almost kinda sorta nearly had been almost difficult to catch.

"Ma ma, Sasuke-kun! So anxious to get started!"

"Get started with what?" He growled through gritted teeth.

"Why, you're such a good teammate that you're going to help Naruto workout the more obvious holes in his Taijutsu, isn't that right?"

To his eternal amusement all anger drained from both of their faces, only to be replaced by that look of slowly mounting horror that he treasured so dearly.

"Oh, hell no!" they exclaimed as one.

"Oh, yes," Kakashi replied.

"Come on, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed, "I have Haku to help me out, right Haku-chan?"

She nodded from her place along the side of the clearing. "Of course, Naruto-kun."

"Yeah, I'm sure she'll do a much better job than I would," Sasuke sputtered out, "I mean she already helped train those three idiots."

"Is that a recommendation or a condemnation?" Kakashi asked with a peeked eyebow.

Sasuke just sputtered to a halt while the three Tesaki idiots glared at him, once again causing Kakashi to fight down his very real desire to simply murder the lot of them, as well as the desire to laugh hysterically.

"Thought so," He replied cheerfully, "Anyways, if Naruto's Konoha Academy style Taijutsu isn't at least marginally passable by the time we return to the village, I might have to take emergency measures."

"Emergency measures?" Naruto asked, looking confused. He paused for a second before adding, "Do I really want to know?"

"Probably not," Kakashi replied, "But since you asked so nicely I'll tell you. If I am forced to take drastic measures it will of course mean removing Team Seven from the field. That of course means nothing but D-rank missions until you meet my expectations. As for the training itself..." his smiled grew two sizes, visible even through his mask. It pleased him very much when both of his students and even the spectators turned bone white.

"I'm sure you'll find it quite... youthful."

- 8 - 8 - 8 - 8 - 8 - 8 - 8 -

"So where the hell are you taking me?" Naruto grumbled, shooting Sasuke a baleful glare.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and fought down the very real urge to check if Naruto was his 'Best Friend' by stabbing him in the liver with a Kunai. "Listen, moron, remember how I said I had something I needed to show you last night?"

"Yeah," he replied, "So keep moving."

Naruto frowned. "I don't know, this is pretty suspicious."

Sasuke sighed. Shingi better have some tea ready when they got there. "Listen, I thought you'd like something that was 'super awesome' and just for you."

Considering how much of an attention whore Naruto was, he would have been shocked to find out that he had vanished after entering a mysterious cart labeled 'free candy'.

Naruto paused pensively for a moment. "You sure it's super awesome?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Of course. "Yes, it's super awesome..."

"So what is it and why did Haku and the others have to stay behind?"

He sighed, "Because this isn't for them," he repeated again. The old bastard hadn't said anything about companions and frankly they'd just complicate things. Not that he wasn't sure that the girl wasn't stalking behind them somewhere. If she was a tenth as obsessed with Naruto as she was with Zabuza, it would have been a sucker's bet.

Naruto frowned as the two of them approached the clearing. Right before him was the very same shrine which he knew to contain the very same creepy old man.

"And old temple?" Naruto asked, "That's not super awesome!"

Almost as if to punctuate his sentence the door slid open exposing the severe form of Shingi, whose face was twisted into its normal baleful scowl. "Disrespectful," he snapped.

Naruto's eyes narrowed and he pulled a kunai. "Who the hell are you?"

The old monk glanced at Naruto, then glared at Sasuke.

"You didn't tell him where you were taking him did you?" he said with a growl.

Sasuke simply smirked. "No. Thought this would be more fun."

The old monk snorted and then nodded. "Fine. Makes my job easier."

Naruto tensed and he shifted his stance. "Yeah, well, who the hell are you?"

The old man stepped forward and looked down at Naruto. "My name is Oshinami Shingi," he stated calmly.

Naruto blinked, confused

And then the man bowed deeply. "And I am a proud servant of the Uzumaki clan."

Naurto's jaw just dropped as he was left completely and utterly dumbfounded. Sasuke made sure to burn the sight into his memory with his Sharingan.

Shingi's eyes darted to the treeline. "And you can tell your retainer that their secrecy is not necessary."

Sasuke smirked again. Called it.


	9. Chapter 9

Naruto just stood in place, slack jawed, looking blankly at the old man who'd just proclaimed himself to be a proud servant of the Uzumaki.

To say that he was confused would be an understatement. Overwhelmed likewise would be downplaying his thoughts. Honestly, the best way to discribe it was that he was so utterly dumbfounded that the that was about the limit of Uzumaki Naruto's cognitive processing ability amounted to little more than the subtle hiss of white noise punctuated by the occasional proclamation of "Abort. Retry. Fail."

He simply didn't know how to handle this. He'd never in a thousand years have imagined Sasuke dragging him out to the woods to meet some guy who claimed to be a servant of his clan. Hell, he never imagined in a million years he'd ever meet someone who'd claim to be a servant of his clan. The Sasuke thing only made it even more confusing.

The more he thought about it, the more it hurt, so in the name of self-defense and the general "what-the-fuck-titude" of the situation, his brain decided to throw in the towel and went home for drinks and ramen.

"Naruto-kun?" Haku asked gently, before rounding on the old man. "If he is under some form of Genjutsu..."

"No," the old man responded, harshly, "I think the poor boy is in shock," His eyes narrowed and he glanced at Sasuke balefully.

Sasuke replied with a smirk.

The smirk. That insufferable, annoying, infuriating holier-than-thou Uchiha smirk that made him want to bitch smack Sasuke every time it formed on his oh so pretty girly-boy lips. It always made him seeth, and in this case that little spike of fury was the perfect thing to reboot Naruto's brain.

"W-what the hell is going on here!" Naruto exclaimed wide eyed, and maybe a little manic. "Who the hell are you?!" He jabbed his finger at the old guy. "Where the hell is this!?" he waved his hand around chaotically, before pointing at Sasuke and all but screaming, "And how the hell did he know to bring me here?!"

Sasuke's smirk grew two more sizes. "You want me to..."

"No," the old man commanded, "You've done enough here, Uchiha-sama. From here it is Uzumaki business. While I thank you for your kindness in this matter, but I much of this conversation will be sensitive in nature."

"Hn," he grunted lightly. "I assume I'm permitted to finish my tea?"

Shingi nodded. "Of course. I will tell you when I begin in ernest."

"Hello!" Naruto interrupted. "Somebody tell me what's going on here!"

The old priest nodded. "Of course, Uzumaki-sama. First. What is going on strongly depends on you. Though understand it has everything to do with the legacy of the Uzumaki clan and much of it is not for outsiders."

"Um... okay..."

"Second, I am Oshinami Shingi, tending priest of this shrine and former Jonin of Uzushiogakure no Sato."

Naruto blinked. Hidden Whirlpool? He'd never heard of that village before, though it was a pretty badass name.

"Third, this is the Uzu no Kuni memorial shrine."

Okay. Naruto was getting even more confused. Equally cool name, but even less of a clue what he was talking about.

"And finally, Uchiha-sama followed Tazuna-san here when he decided to speak to me about current events and your role in them."

"Oh," Naruto paused. "So could you please explain everything you just said?"

Shingi stood in place for a moment and then sighed. "They didn't tell you anything at all, did they?"

"Nope!"

"Damn you, Hiruzen," He sighed, "Come on in, boy. I have much to explain."

"Excuse me, Oshinami-san," Haku interrupted. "But you called me Naruto-kun's retainer. Why?"

"Your Chakra is very distinct, Yuki-san," he said in a low, dangerous tone, "Tazuna-san mentioned a girl who used Ice who had seemingly chosen to become Uzumaki-san's follower. If this is incorrect, then I strongly suggest that you leave leave, Yuki-san." he replied cooly, shooting her a withering glance. "Immediately."

"What do you mean, Yuki-san?" Naruto asked, "And why are you being mean to Haku-chan?"

"My mother's clan was the Yuki clan, Naruto-kun" Haku replied, before turning to Shingi. "My sensei's final wish was that if I was unable to find an ambition of my own, I find someone worthy and aid them in reaching theirs. I've found such a person in Naruto-kun."

"Then I strongly suggest you translate your desires into an official oath then," he snapped, "As for why I'm going mean to 'Haku-chan', please come inside with me and I will explain all."

Naruto frowned for a moment. He didn't like this. There was a lot of confusing stuff going on, this old man claimed to be his families servant and mentioned a lot of stuff with the word 'Uzu' in it, then started shooting dirty looks at Haku. "Alright, but you better, old man."

"Of course," Shingi replied before leading them inside the shrine.

The inside, Naruto noticed wasn't nearly as beaten up as the outside. It was aged, but hadn't suffered the ravages of the elements. In addition, the man obviously the man put extensive effort into keeping it clean. What struck him though, was in a place of honor dominating the shrine was a large stone.

He'd seen a stone just like it before. It looked very much like the Konoha memorial stone, only instead of being inscribed with the symbol for a leaf it had a spiral just like the one he wore on his jacket. In fact, looking around there were spirals everywhere.

The man calmly pulled out a serving set and a container of tea. "Please take a seat," he said after setting out the table. "Come tomorrow, Uchiha-san and I will walk you through each step of the preparation and serving of the his blend. Today though, there are more pressing concerns."

Sasuke nodded with a grunt.

"Now, Uzumaki-sama," he replied as he began to ready the tea, "Tell me, what do you know of your family and its history."

Naruto flushed slightly and lowered his head. "Nothing." he replied, his face glowing with embarrassment.

Shingi frowned. "Do you know the names of your parents?"

"No," he replied. "I asked Jiji but he said he couldn't tell me anything yet."

The old man frowned. "Well, I am not the Hokage and I will tell you all I can."

Naruto blinked. "Really?" Nobody ever told him shit.

He nodded as he began to pour. "Yes. So, enjoy a cup of tea while I tell you the illustrious tale of the Uzumaki clan. Any questions will be answered to the best of my ability."

Naruto's eyes went wide and he grinned like a madman. Finally! Answers! Real answers!

"The Uzumaki were a proud clan," he replied, They were passionate, courageous, and kind. They possessed a unique bloodline that gave them special sealing charka. This chakra gave them a unique insight to the sealings arts, of which they were the unquestioned masters. "

Naruto smiled. They sounded really strong!

"While the Uzumaki were powerful, they chose not to involve themselves with the ceaseless feuding on the continent. Instead, they retreated to a desolate island off the coast. It was a worthless rock, covered in swamps, with poor weather and harsh swirling tides that made it virtually inaccessible. Using their mastery of Fuuinjutsu, they reshaped this island into a paradise. They tamed the seas, reshaped the earth itself, and bestowed upon it the name of Uzu no Kuni."

Naruto simply sat spellbound as his family's history was explained.

"Most clans would have stopped there, content in isolation and security. But the Uzumaki were not most clans. The opened thier gates to the outside world. They turned their eyes to homeless, the displaced, the poor, and the the suffering and the forgotton. To the people who struggled, looking for a better life. They invited them to join them in their paradise, their only demand being that they put aside old hatred and dedicate themselves to living together in peace."

He frowned. "But the island was in a very strategic location, located close to several major trading routes. Their little village of social rejects and refugees quickly transformed into valuable trading port and grew wealthy. And soon the attentions of those they wished to leave behind turned to them. So again, they opened their doors. This time to their fellow ninja. Those clans willing to swear fealty could escape the endless bloodshed of the mainland and find a home amongst them."

"Uzu no Kuni grew powerful, transforming the refuse of the continent into a strong and proud people. While the Uzumaki themselves came to be counted among the Godai Ichizoku."

Naruto blinked. "The who?"

"The Five Great Clans. During the Warring States period five powerful clans rose up to eclipse all of their rivals in power and might. The Senju, the Uchiha, the Sarutobi, the Hyuga, and of course, the Uzumaki."

Naruto blinked and glanced over at Sasuke. Okay, so maybe his family really was kind of awesome. He was still a dick.

"The Uzumaki remained in this state of neutrality and relative isolation up until they were approached by Senju Harashima. He invited them to join his dream, to end the incessant wars by joining together in peace. But they declined. The Uzumaki were the only one of the great families not to join them in founding Konohagakure, the first of the Hidden Villages."

Naruto blinked. "Why not?"

Seriously, if his family was this awesome, how could they not get in on something as wonderful as Konoha?

"Because they'd already built a home," he replied, "Because they already lived in peace. Because they refused to abandon the people who'd come to depend on them. But they respected his dream and found it worthy of their support. Worthy enough to break their neutrality and ally with the fledgling village. Enough to offer Mito-sama, the daughter of Uzumaki Munetoshi-sama, the clan head to Harashima as his bride and rename the capital Uzushiogakure no Sato as a sign of their support."

Naruto blinked. Okay. That was still pretty awesome.

"So what happened?" Naruto asked.

"Whirlpool always had a good trading relationship with Fire Country, after all, swamps aren't good for farming and even the Uzuamki could only reclaim just so much land. Lightning and Water country on the other hand always resented our wealth and power. With the founding of Kiri and Kumo, Uzu wasn't so powerful as to be considered unassailable anymore."

He sighed, "During the First Great Shinobi War they attacked the village, but discovered the hard way that one does not attack a village founded by Fuinjutsu masters lightly. And even the few times they did manage to make any gains, our allies from Konoha were swift to respond in force."

"They came to fear our power," He frowned and sighed. "So they planned ahead."

Naruto swallowed as malevolent chill make its way down his spine as he realized what it was he was about to be told about. He was about to be told the story of the death of his people, the destruction of his family, and the reason why he had spent his life alone.

"W-what happened?"

"The Second Great Shinobi War began with a coordinated strike. Suna, Iwa, and Ami attacked Hi no Kuni to tie down Konoha's forces, while Kumo, Kiri, and Taki attacked Uzushio directly and with full force."

He felt his throat dry, his blood freeze in his veins, and his hand begin to tremble.

"We held," he replied, "They couldn't break our defenses and for every one of ours that fell, they lost five." His face twisted into a savage smile, "We made them bleed for every inch. Their Jinchuuriki? All Dead. The Nidaime Raikage? Slain in single combat with Uzumaki Jubei-sama. We humbled Kumo. We all but crippled Kiri. And Taki," he laughed, "They styled themselves as the greatest of the Minor Villages and attacked in hopes of proving themselves worthy to be among the Great Five. When we were finished with them, they'd lost an entire generation!"

Naruto couldn't help but smile. His family was badass!

"But sadly, we were outnumbered by ten to one," He closed his eyes, "And they turned their attention to the civilians."

Naruto went white. "They started killing the villagers..."

He nodded. "Yes. They did. They started massacring the civilians. In most Hidden Villages, the village exists to support the ninja. Most of the civilians have at least some experience with the ninja arts. Usushiogakure was a capital city before it became a Hidden Village. The ninja were there to protect the civilians," he closed his eyes, "And it became clear, that if the civilians were to survive, that the ninja had to be sacrificed."

Naruto eyes slowly widened. "Sacrificed?"

He nodded. "Yes. The battle was already lost. Even if we drowned them in their own blood, Usushio would fall. Of that there was no doubt. They offered no quarter and we asked for none. As long as the battle raged, the civilians would be caught in the crossfire, and when it became clear that they were exterminating the civilians Jubei-sama was left with only one option."

He sighed. "He couldn't surrender. To do so would have given them everything that made Usuzhio great. The ninja would have been killed, the children sent to their villages to serve as cannon fodder," he sneered, "Or breeding stock. And the sealing knowledge of the Uzumaki would have become the tools of our enemy. No. The only option left to him was betrayal from within. One of his ninja would have to sacrifice his honor and in exchange for mercy for the civilians, turn his blade against his own people. To turn his blade against his own in a manner that would make it appear that the bloodline was extinguished and all knowledge lost."

To say Naruto was horrified would have been an understatement. He was beyond words at the enormity of the sacrifice. The head of his family ordered the deaths of his own kin to save the civilians of Whirlpool.

"He secreted away the greatest and most coveted of the Uzuamki's scrolls, hid their most mighty techniques, and sent away those who would not be missed via hidden routes. Then he handed his sword to his chosen ninja and bared him his neck. That ninja did as he was commanded."

Slowly he looked at the old man, and saw the pain and loss in his eyes. While he hid it well, he could see that the man was crying on the inside. And besides that, he could see something else. Shame.

"It was you," Naruto whispered, "You were the one he ordered to do it."

"Yes," Shingi admitted, "I am the one who made the deal with the Mizukage, trading the lives of my people for power. I killed your... I killed the head of your clan. I opened the gates. I allowed the enemy into the heart of our fortress and watched as as my friends, your family, were massacred, all while that son of a bitch patted me on the back promising me great rewards. All because as a loyal Uzushio shinobi, and I did as my master commanded."

"So that's it," Naruto replied, "So you're telling me I once had an awesome family, but you killed them all? Is that it?"

He nodded. "Yes. Hate me if you will. You have every right to do so, and if you demand my life in recompense then I gladly offer it to you in payment for to me, death would be a release from my shame. Because no matter how much you might hate me... understand that I hate myself far more than you ever could."

Naruto took a deep breath as tears started to fall. His family really was gone. They were dead. They died to protect people who couldn't protect themselves. As far as he was concerned, his family died like they lived. They were heroes who gave everything to protect others.

Slowly he looked up to Shingi.

And this was this was the guy who had killed them, albeit under orders from one of their own. While the clan head knew what he was doing, he had a feeling that all the other ninja didn't. To them he was a traitor, the one who murdered them, the reason they died in pain and fear. The old man was right, he had every reason to hate him, but for some reason he didn't. Looking at him he could see he wasn't a bad guy.

A bad guy wouldn't hate himself like this. He did it to save people who couldn't protect themselves. He did it because he was loyal, and because he was loyal, he killed his own heart and did what had to be done.

As much as Naruto lothed to admit it, he did the right thing. Well not the right thing, but the least wrong thing. As much as he wanted to blame him, as much as he wanted to scream, and rage, he couldn't.

Slowly Naruto's face as he looked the man in the eyes. "Shingi-san," he said as a smile slowly came to his face, "I don't hate you."

"Uzumaki-sama," the man choked. "How can you say that after what I've done."

"Because," Naruto was beaming at this point, his tears falling freely. "I forgive you."

"Naruto-kun," Haku whispered.

"Uzumaki-sama!" the old man whailed as he lowered his head to the floor before Naruto, his tears flowing freely. "I am not worthy of your forgiveness!"

"You're not a bad guy," Naruto replied, "I mean you did something bad but you didn't do it because you were bad, but because it was the least horrible thing that could be done. I don't like it but, I can't blame you! You're not the bad guy and I gotta forgive you because, you know what, because you did what you had to, dattebayo!"

Slowly the man lifted himself from his prostration and stood in front of them, before bowing deeply. "Thank you, Uzumaki-sama. While I will never be able to forgive myself," he smiled, "Your forgiveness has taken a great weight off of my heart."

Naruto smiled. "No problem, Jiji."

The old man laughed and slowly sat back down. "So, dattebayo is it?"

Naruto frowned. "Hey! Are you making fun of me?"

"No," he chuckled. "Many Uzumaki had a verbal tic much like yours. Why I remember a girl who looked very much like you who said 'dattebane' in a similar manner."

Naruto blinked. "Really? What was her name?"

"Wait, Uzumaki-sama," he replied calmly, "Before I answer that question I would like you to undergo a small test."

"What?" Naruto grimaced. A test? The hell, "Do I have to?"

"Please humor me," he replied, "It will affect my answer to your question."

"Um, okay?" Naruto blinked, "But I have to warn you, I don't test well."

"Do not worry," Shingi replied as he slipped his hand into the sleeve of his robe. "It's a very simple test."

He then withdrew a full length sword. Naruto blinked in confusion. There was no way that weapon could have fit inside his robe.

"How did you do that?" he asked. "There a scroll in there or something?"

"The secret jutsu of the Oshinami clan," Shingi replied.

Naruto blinked. That was actually kinda cool. "How does it work?"

"Don't be an idiot," Sasuke snapped. "You don't ask a ninja how his clan's techniques work."

"Actually, Uchiha-sama," Shingi cut in, "I'd gladly teach my jutsu to Uzumaki-sama rather than allow the legacy of my clan to die out so easily."

Sasuke sulked.

Naruto smirked.

He had to admit, it was a comfortable inversion.

Slowly, Shigi held it before Naruto. It was tsuba-less tachi, a sword longer than a Katana though not quite a Nodachi in length. The pommel cap was golden rather than brass and a small charm hug by a delicate chain from the metal loop that was traditionally part of all tachi style weapons. The hilt was unwrapped. Instead the rayskin cover was decorated by an intricate, almost camouflage like pattern of yellow rich and vibrant blue. Though oddly there was a thin length of paper wrapped around a point two thirds the way up its length.

The scabbard was much more simple than the rest of the blade, a simply but glossy blue lacquer except between the two golden hanger mounts, which was the same yellow and blue as the hilt.

All in all, Naruto thought it was a beautiful weapon, though he had to wonder why Shingi was showing it to him.

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Please draw the blade, Naruto-kun."

Then Shingi twisted the blade around, presenting it to Naruto, hilt first.

Naruto looked at the weapon and then glanced back to Haku slightly confused. The girl simply shrugged.

With a shrug of his own, Naruto took the blade in hand and drew it from the scabbard. It was a fine looking weapon, he guessed. Though he wasn't much of an expert on swords, the blade seemed sharp and shiny like a mirror. It looked like it was made of polished silver rather than steel. He guessed that was a good thing.

He looked back up to Shingi and found himself looking into one of the most creepy sights of all of his years. The man was smiling. No, he was absolutely beaming with glee. It was terrifying to be honest.

"Is... um..." Naruto paused, "Is everything okay?"

"Yes," Shingi replied breathlessly, "Yes it is. For the first time in many years all is well."

"Okay, I'm confused," Naruto admitted. Seriously, he was getting just a little freaked out here. Not that he wasn't freaked out before! Seriously! Big reveal time, what was the next massive life changing revelation he'd he told in the next thirty seconds because he was sure it was going to be a dooze!

"You pass the test," he replied. "This is Itazura. The Sword of the Uzumaki."

"That is the famous Senfuken!" Haku exclaimed.

"Correct," Shini replied before continuing. When he ordered me to take his life, my master left me with a single commandment: to protect this blade above all else."

"Why?" Naruto asked. Seriously, it was a cool sword and all but it was still just a sword, right?

"It is the badge of office of the clan head of the Uzumaki," Shingi explained, "And it is known as the Thousand Seal Blade for good reason. Among those seals is one that will only permit it to be drawn by it's rightful master. You were able to draw the blade. That means you are the rightful lord of the Uzumaki clan. It means my task is finally complete."

"Oh," Naruto replied. He wasn't exactly sure what to think. Okay, he was apparently the leader of a cool old family, but what good was a family that was just him? Sure, it was good to know where he came from, and he got a cool sword, but what did all of it matter.

"Don't you want to know about the girl?" Shingi asked.

Naruto looked down at the blade of the sword. Part of him knew he should feel happy right now. He frowned. But really, did it matter at all?

"Sure," he said absently. With a deep breath he sighed and re sheathed the weapon. For some reason this had drained all of the joy out of his discovery. It was one thing to be a member of a proud but lost family, but to be recognized as clan head? It was just like taunting him. All behold Naruto, the Lord of the Uzumaki, the patriarch of a proud and noble clan of one! It didn't change anything and just reminded him that he was alone.

"You know," Shingi observed, "I'd have thought you'd be more interested in hearing about your mother than this."

Naruto's head jerked up so quickly it hurt. "W-what did you say?"

"I said, I'd have have thought you'd be more excited to hear about your mother," he replied, "I thought you were Kushina-sama's son the second I saw you. I just had to make sure," he replied, "You're the spitting image of your uncle Shiro at your age." he paused, "Except for the hair."

"What was she like! What did she look like? Please! Tell me!" Naruto exclaimed. "Please!"

"Calm down. I'll get to it. Kushina-sama was sent to Konoha for reasons... well... I'll explain why when we're alone. Anyways, she was sent when she was young and I never knew her as a woman, but I'll tell you what I know. She was loud and rambunctious, energetic and always looking for grandfather always called her his little tomato, no matter how much it infuriated her. In fact I think that's what he called her it."

He chuckled fondly at the old memory "Like most Uzumaki, she had red hair. In fact, except for the hair and eyes, you have the classic Uzumaki looks. You sound like one too. And if what Uchiha-sama told me is true, you have the family sense of humor."

"Uzumaki Kushina," Haku thought to herself aloud, a look bordering on shock and horror on her face, "Naruto-kun is the son of Uzumaki Kushina."

Naruto looked over. "Yeah, isn't it great!" He exclaimed, "I know about my mom!"

"I have heard of your mother," Haku said after a moment's thought.

"From what I've heard Kushina-sama left an impression on Hidden Mist," he grinned, "Why don't you tell him about it?"

Haku looked over to Naruto and sighed when she saw his face. He left it pretty apparent that he wanted to know what she had to say.

"In Mist she was known as the Blood Soaked Hurricane and was listed in the Kiri Bingo books as an S-Rank enemy combatant with a standing 'Flee on Sight' order for all ninja under Jonin in rank. She hated our village," Haku replied, "And she made that clear through her actions. She was relentless. Once she'd spied a Kiri ninja... she wouldn't stop until they were dead. Her method of combat was brutal, using chains formed of chakra to restrain, impale, and rend her enemies limb from limb, leaving behind only an unidentifiable mass of blood and shredded meat. She was a killing machine."

"No," Sasuke cut in, "She was an Avenger. Kiri wiped out her clan, destroyed her home, and took away everything and everyone she ever loved. Of course she hated your village. Of course she killed without mercy."

Haku frowned, "In Kirigakure they tell children to behave or the Blood Soaked Hurricane will come to kill in their sleep."

Naruto couldn't help by smile. My mom is the Boogie Man. Okay. That is kind of awesome.

Sasuke grinned. "Good. They're right to fear her memory," he smirked and glanced at Naruto, "Hey failure, your mom was pretty cool. Maybe if you can become half the ninja she was you'll actually be worth something."

Naruto glared at him. "Thanks, Bastard. I think."

Leave it to Sasuke to give a compliment that was half insult.

Sasuke smirked and stood up before stretching his neck. "Anyways, I better get going. Shingi says he has some ears only clan information to tell so I might as well leave you do it. Thank you for the tea, Shingi."

"You're welcome, Uchiha-sama," Shingi replied.

He grunted. "I guess you're going to delay my instruction until tomorrow."

Shingi frowned somewhat. "Possibly, but rather than simply work you through the steps. You have an activated Sharingan, correct?"

Sasuke smirked. "Of course."

Shingi slipped a piece of paper and a brush from the folds of his robe and quickly jotted down a note. He handed to to Sasuke and glanced at it for a moment with his eyes on and then returned it with a smile.

"Thank you," he replied.

"You're quite welcome, Uchiha-sama."

Sasuke silently removed himself, closing the door behind him and leaving Naruto alone in the shrine with Haku and Shingi.

"What the hell was that?"

"Tea," was Shingi's only reply. "Speaking of which, you have yet to touch yours."

Naruto blushed and looked down at the cup in front of him. With a bit of a chuckle he picked it up and took a sip. He wasn't much of a tea person but he Didn't want to insult the man and this... this was actually really good!

"So now you're going to tell me the super awesome family secrets, right?"

"Not with her in the room," was his reply. "I mean no disrespect, Uzumaki-sama, but she is not sworn fealty nor is she an ally. If I wouldn't say these things in front of Uchiha-sama, there is no possibility of me being willing to say them in front of Yuki-san."

Naruto frowned. Wait. He was actually saying that jerk Sasuke was more of an friend than Haku? What the hell? "Hey!" he snapped, "Stop treating Haku-chan like an enemy!"

"She is from an enemy clan," he replied, "Her family contributed a great deal to the fall of Uzu no Kuni. Please pardon an old man's caution, Naruto-sama."

"I understand. You hate me for my cursed blood." She looked up and nodded to him. "But unlike most you have reason. My bloodline contributed to the destruction of your home and the deaths of your precious people. And unlike most you have at least attempted to remain polite, if only for Naruto-kun's sake."

"Well, she's one of my precious people," Naruto replied, "And I trust her! So you can tell her anything you can tell me."

"Jubei-sama said there were things I was only to tell his heir," Shingi replied. "But beyond those I will obey your orders," he paused, "Despite my reservations."

"If it will put your reservations to rest I will swear my fealty to Naruto-kun," Haku replied.

Naruto blinked. Wait, he knew what that meant.

"You don't have to do that, Haku-chan!" Naruto exclaimed. He liked Haku as a friend! He didn't want her undying obedience or anything like that!

"Naruto-kun," she said calmly. "I have no dream of my own beyond seeing Zabuza-sama's memory live on and you've already decided to take that duty upon yourself, for which I am eternally grateful," She smiled sadly, " When Zabuza-sama bid me find someone worthy to follow, I decided on you. I was raised to be Zabuza-sama's tool, and without direction I find myself lost. I find comfort in obeying the order of a worthy master. I would be happy to become your follower."

Naruto went agape. "B-but I don't want you to be my follower. I don't want you to become anyone's follower! I want you to be my friend!"

"I know. And that's why I want it to be you," Her smile grew even as tears started to form in the corners of her eyes. "You've taken me into your heart and made me one of your precious people and by doing so saved me from the loneliness of being an unwanted person. You've become one of my precious people, Naruto-kun. I want to follow you. I want to be your tool, because I know that you will treasure me and that I will never be misused to thrown away."

Naruto frowned deeply. He didn't like this but. "Is this really what you want, Haku-chan?"

Her smile was radiant. "Yes, Naruto-kun."

"Alright!" he snapped, "But you're not my tool, you're not my weapon, you're my treasured subordinate! I'm not going to let anything happen to you, I'll never ask you to do anything I wouldn't, and will protect you with my life! You got that!"

Shingi chuckled earning him a baleful glare from Naruto. "What's do damned funny?"

"You remind me of your grandfather," he replied with a smile. "You're just like he was when we were your age."

Naruto flushed. "Really?"

Shingi nodded.

Naruto frowned. "So is this good enough, Jiji?"

"I will do much to put an old man's concerns at ease. I will prepare for the ritual once we're finished." He paused, "In the meantime I will finish the story of Uzushio's fall."

Naruto frowned but nodded. He really didn't like this story. Hearing about your family being exterminated wasn't exactly fun, but it was one he needed to hear.

"Those who could be sent away, were. Those who could not blended into the surviving civilian populations. As per my orders I approached the Mizukage and promised him that in exchange for mercy for the civilians I'd betray my village and offered them Jubei-sama's head. He accepted the deal and I showed them a secret way into our fortress. They sent their best thinking that without our defenses to hind behind our village was doomed. They were right, but the Uzumaki were not the type to go silently into the night. Their arrogance cost them dearly."

His smile was vicious. "The Uzumaki were known as the world's greatest seal masters for good reason. The internal defenses were as deadly as the external and when it became clear that the castle had fallen, the last resort was activated. The castle destroyed itself, consuming the attackers and any remaining secrets hidden within. Even the land on which it was build was shattered. While I would have been content to die that day, I was forced to save the Mizukage's life. I did not know if his successor would have remained true to his oath."

He sighed. "The Mizukage was thankful for my rescue and the Daimyo of Rai no Kuni and Mizu no Kuni were ecstatic. So pleased in fact that they renamed Uzu no Kuni to Nami no Kuni in my 'honor'," he sneered in disgust, "As they prepared to loot the wealth of the nation to line their own pockets. They drove the civilians from the city, into the marginal lands along the coastlines, and replaced them with their loyal minions. But again, the Uzumaki had the last laugh."

He chuckled. "Uzu no Kuni truly was the land of the Uzumaki. Without them to maintain the seals the ground underfoot returned to the primordial swamp from which it was created. Within six months most of the city sank back into the mud. It was useless to them and they were forced to withdraw."

He sighed. "Those civilians who remained behind became the current inhabitants of Wave."

He smiled. So they honored him for being a Uzumaki and loved him for being a hero. That was... it was something he didn't know how he felt about. It made him think back. He hadn't really thought about it at the time, but they looked at him the way the people of Konoha at the Hokage. They respected him, looked up to him, they saw him as their hero.

His eyes went down to the longsword in his hand. And he was their rightful leader. These were his people as much as the villagers in Konoha. A smile slowly drew across Naruto's face. And he'd protect them like a proper Hokage should.

"So that's why," Naruto muttered, "So that's why everyone is so nice to me."

He looked up and grinned. "So what's the really cool awesome secret you couldn't say in front of Sasuke?"

"You see the strip of paper along the hilt of the sword?"

Naruto blinked. "Um, yeah?"

"Channel chakra into it."

Naruto blinked but did. The paper simply came loose.

"And there's the secret."

"Huh?"

Naruto blinked and pulled it free. Under it was a uzumaki spiral that was inlaid into the hilt.

"So what's the secret?"

"Look at the paper."

He did. It was a piece of light but strong rice paper folded up into a strip. When he unfolded it he saw that it was covered in seals.

Naruto frowned as he looked down at the sheet of paper held within his hands. "Wait," he remarked as he turned it over. "So you're telling me that all of that was about this stupid piece of paper?"

"Stupid piece of paper," Shingi snorted. He snatched it out of Naruto's hands and laid it on the table before forming a hand seal. "Kids these days," he muttered as he place a hand to the paper.

The sheet vanished in a puff of smoke only to be replaced by a moderately sized sealing scroll. It's only marking was a Uzumaki spiral.

Oh. Super secret hidden scroll. Okay. That's kind of cool.

"What's in it?" he asked, "A cool technique?"

"Only the coolest!" Shingi laughed, "Inside this scroll is seals the lost secrets of the Uzumaki! Each of them is behind a puzzle that requires a degree of seal mastery to unlock."

"Why the game?" Naruto asked. "I mean why not just give them to me?"

"Jubei-sama had to to ensure that you will be able to understand the contents!" he exclaimed, "Sealing is the most powerful but also the most difficult of the ninja arts! It wouldn't do for the hope of the Uzumaki to accidently blow himself up trying a technique that is beyond his ability."

"Oh man,"Naruto complained, "But I don't know any sealing."

"An Uzumaki who doesn't know sealing?!" Shingi scoffed, hardly believing it, "Well, Naruto-sama, I suggest you learn quickly."

He frowned for a moment and crossed his arms. Great, and who was going to teach him? He doubted Kakashi would just get up and start training him. He needed someone who'd show him the ropes him and fast.

Now who did he knew who knew sealing?

His frown deepened. Wait. There was those three dumbass brothers.

His frown deepened even more as he remembered something. Wait a goddamned second...

"Hey, Shingi," Naruto growled, as his eyes narrowed to slits, "Can hold off on the history lesson for a bit? I suddenly have an overwhelming urge to go play a game of whack a douche..."

- 9 -

"Ah," Sasuke sighed and he took a deep sip of the fragrant and delicious tea which he'd just prepared. "Just right."

Part of learning to make it was to be sworn to secrecy, but it was so worth it. This blend had to be an A-ranked secret at least!

He chuckled and he looked out over the swamp. Tsunami had been understanding when he'd asked to borrow hers but there was something to be said about having your own. While he'd inherited his mothers, there was no way he was taking that out into the field. He'd have to pick up a travel tea set of his very own.

Sasuke's eyebrow peaked,as he saw his Naruto storming up the walkway, his face twisted into a deep and angry scowl with Haku nowhere to be seen. He made sure to note that there was a bulge in Naruto's jacket that was indicative of a scroll and he was carrying his family sword.

Normally his teammate being, well, Naruto was something sure to annoy him. But right now, he was too pleased with himself to annoy. Naruto wasn't looking to bother him, Sakura was nowhere to be found, and Kakashi was off reading his porn. His teammate was also looking more intense than normal. Normally Naruto had the look of a petulant child around him. Right now he seemed truly and authentically angry.

Sasuke didn't know why but it was sure to be amusing. Or at least interesting.

Tea and a show. He chuckled. What a day!

"What's so funny?" Naruto demanded, "And where are the brothers."

"Inside feeling sorry about themselves," he replied. "So, where's Haku?"

"Haku is busy," Naruto snapped before turning to the house. "Alright assholes, front and center! Get out here right now!"

Moments later the door slid open and the three brothers slipped out.

"You need something, loudmouth?" Mou asked with a frown.

"Yeah, actually," Naruto replied. "Give me my goddamned scrolls!"

The color drained from Mou's face in and instant, "Ah, scrolls?"

"Yeah," Naruto replied, his eyes narrowing to slits. "Your family looted some of my family's scrolls during the fall of the Uzu, right?"

"Ah," Mou flushed, "A few...?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "A few?"

"A library," Kuri admitted with a sigh.

Naruto smiled. "Thank you, Kuri."

"Damn it, knucklehead!" Mou cursed, "We need those scrolls!"

"But they're his scrolls!"

"They've been in our family for generations!" Mou exclaimed. "We can't just give that away! It'll leave us with nothing!"

"Hm," Sasuke grunted, "Let me get this straight. Your family stole a library of techniques form the Uzumaki, correct?"

Rari and Kuri nodded.

"Alright then," he took a long and lingering sip of tea. Wonderful, "And you're worried that he's going to take them back and leave you with nothing."

"Well, yeah," Mou admitted.

"If I were you," Sasuke replied, "I'd be more worried about your lives."

"What."

"What?"

"What?!"

"I can't speak for Kiri, but The theft of clan jutsu is taken very seriously in Konohagakure," Sasuke observed, "It's right up there with bloodline theft on the list of things you do not do if you value your life."

Okay, maybe Sasuke was overstating things. Maybe a bit. But it wasn't by too much. But it really was something Konoha did take seriously. With the number of clans in Konoha, there had to be protections against clan techniques being unlawfully disseminated. It was one of the first things they learned if only to make sure the children didn't foolishly do anything they'd regret once they activated their Sharingan.

"So about my scrolls..." Naruto said cooly.

The three went pale as ghosts, and turned to Naruto, their eyes locking on the impressively sized sword on his back.

"Ah, you're not gonna kill us, right?" Rari half-begged.

"Gimme a break," Mou snapped, "I mean your sensei is Copycat Kakashi and your teammate is a freckin' Uchiha. At least we're honest thieves who play to our talents, not just jackasses magical eyeballs..."

"Even if you had the Sharingan you'd still be second rate ninja. Even without using our bloodline Uchiha are elite shinobi," Sasuke smirked, "And besides, unlike you three, Uchiha aren't stupid enough to get caught."

"Doesn't answer the question why you can get away with it and we can't," he snarked.

"Shut up, Mou!" Kuri exclaimed.

"Give me my goddamned scrolls," Naruto cut in calmly. "Now."

"He's the guy who's trying to get us into Konoha, remember?" Kuri pointed out, "Stop pissing him off!"

Mou sighed. "Fine. Let me go get my pack..." he glanced over, and scowled as he saw Rari slipping back into the room with something that looked less like a normal scroll and more like a small decorative log.

It was about two feet tall and almost eight inches wide. It was white on the tips with a black wrap embraced with Sasuke now knew to the Uzumaki Spiral about the center. It was obviously old, showing some signs of yellowing, but seemed to be well taken care of.

Slowly, almost reverently even, Naruto took the scroll from the brother and grinned widely. Then he paused for a moment and glared at them. "Wait, you said it was a library."

"Uzumaki," Mou muttered, "Who needs bookshelves when you can simply put it all in a giant ultra-complicated self-sorting sealing scroll."

Naruto blinked. "You know, that's pretty damned cool."

Sasuke had to agree that while he did see it as being maybe a bit excessive, the level of casual mastery of the art that required sounded extremely impressive. Not that he'd ever admit it to Naruto.

"So what are you going to do with these morons?" Sasuke asked. "While they're returned what they stole, you don't exactly want them running around with a level of mastery of your families jutsu, do you?"

Naruto smirked. It was relatively vicious. That Sasuke could respect, not that he'd ever admit it aloud. "Oh, don't worry. I've got a couple ideas..."

- 9 -

"Thank you very much, Hariko-san," Haku replied as she bowed deeply to the elderly woman before her. "Both for your commitment to swiftness and your agreement to remain discrete."

"Please," the old woman shrugged it off, "I remember when Uzushio was strong and proud. I understand the need for discretion and the auspiciousness of what you ask."

"Thank you," Haku replied, simply thankful that the civilian woman 'got' it. "Now, I believe we've yet to discuss price?"

The old woman scowled slightly, "Please, do not mention such words. Normally I would charge a great deal for what you ask, but because it is for you and Uzumaki-sama and under Oshinami-san's direction no less? Completing this order as directed is my patriotic duty!"

"Thank you," Haku replied, "So when do you believe it will be completed?"

The old woman smiled. "By tomorrow evening," she replied.

Haku blinked. "So quickly?"

"My darling girl," the elderly woman smirked, "Sleep is for infants and the dead."


End file.
